Walking reduces cardiac risk factors such as cholesterol,diabetes, obesity-Dr. Pradeep Sharma, BLK Hospital

BLK Super Speciality Hospital conducts walkathon ‘Walk-A-Mile’ to create awareness on prevention of joint and spine pain. 

New Delhi, April 3, 2017: Aiming to promote increased awareness about prevention and management of Joint and Spine related pain,BLK Super Speciality Hospital on Sunday,April 2,2017, organised ‘Walk-A-Mile, It’s worth Your While’ campaign, a unique initiative to promote the benefits of walking for healthy bones, joints and spine. The walkathon witnessed close to  1000 participants includingCorporates, PSUs, Physiotherapists, Orthopaedicians, RWAs of neighbouring areas including Patel Nagar, Rajendra Nagar and Karol Bagh.

Experts at the hospital endorsed that walking is the best medicine. Campaign titled Walk-A-Mile: It’s Worth Your While is the second in series after organising a walk on cancer awareness in October last year. According to International Journal of Obesity, clocking at least 15,000 steps everyday helps you maintain a healthy weight, trims waistline, keeps metabolism normal thereby decreasing risk for cardiac disease, apart from preventing osteoporosis and maintaining muscles strength.

Mr. Naresh Kapoor, Executive Director, BLK Super Speciality Hospital said, “Statistics have shown that a large population in India suffer with one or other form of joint and spinal disorders like, low back pain, neck pain, disc disease, arthritis or osteoporosis to name a few. Such disabilities have a profound effect on a person’s overall health and wellness. Research has demonstrated that poor posture, inactivity and sedentary lifestyle are major contributors to the development of back & joint pain and other spinal disorders. Through this initiative, we want to create awareness among general public, more importantly the younger generation and highlight the importance of physical activity and improving posture as part of maintaining overall good bone health and prevention of injury. The Walk-A-Mile initiative is a humble effort in that direction.”

Emphasizing on the health benefits of walking daily, Dr. Pradeep Sharma, Director & Head, BLK Centre for Orthopaedics, Joint Reconstruction & Spine Surgery, BLK Super Speciality Hospital, said, “Maintaining an active routine by walking for at-least 40 minutes daily will ensure good locomotion, which  in turn affects the health of rest of the organs like heart, liver, brain. Walking helps to maintain good bone health, strengthens muscles, keeping one active. Walking also reduces cardiac risk factors such as cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, vascular stiffness and inflammation, and mental stress. Walking five days a week reduces the risk of cardiovascular events by 31%.

Walking should be made an important part of our daily routine to get rid of risks of sedentary lifestyle and it should start from a very young age. Moderate changes in our day-to-day routine with a well-informed approach towards healthy living would lead to early diagnosis of bone, joint and spine related problems. Dr. Puneet Girdhar, Director – Spine Surgery, BLK Centre for Orthopaedics, Joint Reconstruction & Spine Surgery,BLK Super Speciality, Hospital, said “Through this initiative, we intend to plant the seed of general awareness on the benefits of walking for the overall bone, joint and spine health.  Walking helps to increase the circulation, which in turn improves the strength of back muscles, bone density and posture. We would like to urge more and more people to come forward and join hands to help in our endeavour to create awareness of bone health.”