Using Hiking Poles - Benefits and Drawbacks

Knees feel like they are taking a pounding downhill?
Friends using hiking poles always overtake you on ascents?

Well, when you are carrying a backpack, covering long distances and traversing mountains four legs truly are better than two!

However there are interesting benefits and drawbacks to using hiking poles. We have listed our main ones below:

Benefits

1. Most importantly they reduce pressure on your knees (as well as feet, legs and back) especially in descent. A study showed that trekking poles significantly reduce pressure on the legs by up to 20% of your body weight per step.
   
   Using poles reduces the wear and tear on your knees and help you enjoy the walk and potentially will extend your walking lifetime.
   
   Read our Tips and Best Technique for Using Trekking Poles page for maximum benefit.

2. You have seen or heard of the balance mountain goats have! Poles improve your overall balance. They support you over tricky terrain and you have less chance of falling over and spraining an ankle, or worse.

3. Hiking poles can be used effectively to control your speed. In ascents, they can be used to increase your speed by getting your arms and the poles to work to push you onwards and upwards. Similarly on descents you can use them effectively to slow and control your speed downwards.
   
   

Drawbacks

1. When you come to sections where you need to scramble you have to stop and pack them away. Similarly when hiking through thick bush they are just plain in the way. This is their main hassle; however telescopic poles really help to avoid this.
   
   John had the pole jam experience. “I was scrambling down a large boulder section, and my pole, attached to the back of my pack, jammed down between two rocks. Next minute, as it was steep, I couldn’t back up and was dangling like I’d been lifted onto a hook on the wall. In a large group that day, but it was my mum who kindly helped me out, which ultimately just added to the friendly joke taking. I now aware of this, and my new pair of Black Diamond’s are a very collapsible three section and can even fit well out of the way in my rucksack.”

2. Without poles your hands are free to eat and you can map read more easily as you walk, however with poles it is less easy to walk and do such tasks.