Willow Walking Challenge

Welcome to the Willow Walking Challenge. Between the 20th and 24th June, we want you to walk 55,000 steps. We all know that we should be hitting our daily steps goal every day, but how many of us actually do?

Most of us would say that we are more reactive than proactive with our health. We wait until something isn’t quite right to take action rather than trying to prevent any problems with our health. We want to help you change this mindset so that you can start to take proactive action with your health. That way, you can do everything you want for as long as possible.

Take our cars as an example. We take them to be serviced and for an MOT each year to make sure that they aren’t going to break down on us out of the blue. If we don’t service our cars, top up the oil, or maintain them at all, why wouldn’t we expect problems to arise?

The same could be said for our bodies. If we aren’t proactive with our health by exercising regularly, eating well, coming in for your adjustments etc., then over time we will see problems start to develop, like pain. Developing healthy habits, like going for a walk everyday, will work wonders for your health in the long-term.

About the Willow Walking Challenge

Between the 20th and 24th June, we want you to walk 55,000 steps, and we will too. We all need to be more active, so we’d like to encourage you to take part in our walking challenge. This challenge is all about making a conscious effort to take control of your health and well-being through walking.

Don’t worry at all if this goal isn’t achievable for you. The important thing is that you engage with the challenge. Instead of aiming for 55,000 steps in 5 days, try to do it in 7 days. Goals are all relative and personal anyway. If you don’t have access to a smart phone or watch to track your step count, use this as a guide:

• 20 minute walk = 2400 steps
• 5 miles = 10,000 steps

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Lao Tzu

Get those around you involved in the challenge too. It’s always easier to stay motivated when you are in a group, but it can also make the walks more enjoyable and social.

After the Willow Walking Challenge

At the end of the walking challenge, we will be having an open day. This is an opportunity for you to bring your friends and family to come for a small examination with one of our Chiropractors and get their advice. We can then look at getting them booked in for a consultation if the Chiropractor thinks that they could benefit from chiropractic care.

This will be taking place on Saturday 25th June, the day after our walking challenge ends.

Why should you take part?

Nowadays we are spending more and more time sitting in the day. This is so far from our hunter-gatherer origins that it isn’t good for our bodies. Walking has so many benefits for both our physical and mental health, but it is often forgotten as a valid form of exercise. Our daily lives are busy, and this isn’t likely to change anytime soon. So, let’s all use this time to make a conscious effort to step back, go outside, and breathe in the fresh air. Walking brings you into the present, so that we are mindful and aware of what is happening at this very moment, not in the past or the future.

Your daily walks give you space to breathe, to let go of your daily stresses, and to embrace the wonders of nature around you. Making time everyday for yourself will help you to feel more relaxed, which in turn, will affect other aspects of your life and health, like your quality of sleep.

Not only this, but walking complements your adjustments. To feel the full benefits, you must keep your spine moving immediately afterwards. This is when most of the healing happens. Your spinal discs rely on movement and a constant supply of water to receive the nutrients they need to heal. Without those nutrients, they can’t heal, so it’s vital that we keep moving!

Five benefits of walking:

• Improve your cardiovascular fitness and muscle endurance
• Strengthen bones and muscles
• Improve your sleep
• Improve circulation, increase heart rate, and lower blood pressure
• Be in the present moment to reduce stress and anxiety, and increase your mental alertness

If you’re a patient of ours, then click here to sign up for the Willow Walking Challenge.