fast walking for one hour

Question
QUESTION: I  am 61 years old and walk in the morning daily for one hour at  speed of around 7 kms per hour. I am comfortable with the pace of my walking and feel no pain no pain  in the legs during /after my walk  Certain persons have been cautioning me that the speed and duration of my walk may result in damage to the cartilage or increased wear and tear of the cartilage. Does the fear expressed have any medical validity?

ANSWER: A lot depends on how long you have been doing this. It might only be a problem if a person took on such a work load too soon. If you have no pain issues, it surely means you must have gradually built up to it. The ligaments and tendons do need more time to adjust to the stress than the muscles do.

It sounds like a very strong walking program. You should not have to worry about long-term damage, provided you use good quality shoes and stretch after your workouts.

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QUESTION: Further to my above question, I would like to mention that I have been doing fast walking for more than 7 years. My height is 173 cms and weight 70.5 kg. Apart from my morning walk I also walk for 3 kms in the evening, though at a leisurely pace of around 4/5 kms per hour. After my morning walk, I do stretching exercise for 15 minutes and breathing exercises for 15 minutes. I would like to know if there is specifically any co-relation between speed/duration of the walk and wear and tear of the cartilage/ligaments.

Answer
Your activity level is impressive. I don't see anything unhealthy about what you are doing. And no, there is NO correlation between speed/duration and joint damage. Whoever is telling you that does not know what they are talking about.

If you were going to have problems, you would not be going strong after seven years. I have personally run and walked 95,000 miles over a period of 34 years, and at age 58, I have perfectly healthy joints.

You should absolutely keep up the good work and do not worry.