Walking for exercise and rehabilitation – plus our top 3 favourite Adelaide walks

Walking is one of the best exercises ever. Here in Adelaide, you can see people walking briskly at any time of the day - our patient John goes for his walk every day at 5am!

There's just endless reasons why walking is great and why people love it, especially here in Adelaide, but I'll do my best to list them all here.

No fitness level requirements.

You can start walking today, just because you can! I always recommend walking to whom is not sure what physical activity would like to take on, or whether they'd be fit enough. Start easy for a few days, then depending on how you felt, start giving yourself goals in time or distance. You'll improve more quickly than you think.

Cardio and much more.

Walking will increase the efficiency of you heart and of your lungs. When we use many big muscles in our body, we consume lots of oxygen. Automatically our lungs will be pushed to absorb as much of it as they can from the air. Walking will slowly increase the tone and the resistance of you leg muscles but also of your core muscles. In fact, our core muscles are always very active during anything we do standing, and the faster we move, the faster they need to work. 

Fancy gear required: zero.

Comfy shoes, comfy clothes. Done. Be sun-smart in summer and that's it, nothing else to worry about. However, if you take on walking regularly - or running - I usually recommend popping at The Running Company for the best advice on shoes. They're very thorough and will give your their best product depending on the analysis or your style. Click this link to see what they do and contact them.

Low risk of injury.

Watch for the traffic and for uneven surfaces or steps. Tripping over might cause an ankle sprain, but that's about it. If you had sprains or pains in your legs in the past, come have a chat with us beforehand to make sure you're starting off safely. 

Also, if you had orthotics in the past, make sure you check with your podiatrist that they're suitable for running. You can contact Mathew for professional advice clicking here.

My top 3 best walks in Adelaide

We are so lucky in Adelaide! We have so many different sceneries we can choose from: beach, river, inner-city, hills, plains.

Here are some of my favourite walks around RADelaide.

River Torrens wetlands

Probably the most famous, loved by cyclists too. It’s very easy to walk on the river and then loop back on the other side when you cross a bridge, so really you don;t need to choose a fixed starting or ending point, and you can choose how far you want to go each time. Consider that if you walk from Cowell bridge to the Esplanade on West Beach the distance is around 4km - and you can reward yourself with a coffee.

However, this walk starts in the foothills and it’s 35km long in total - click here to check the whole thing out.

Waite Conservation Reserve

Definitely my favourite: a little incline, lots of native species of plants - and signs to identify them - but especially many many wild animals. We’ve seen koalas, echidnas, roos and deer. It’s a 7km loop, you can easily park at McElligotts Quarry at the end of Carrick Hill dr (Springfield) and start from there.

If you love it so much as I do, you might also want to join the Friends of Waite group. Click here to see what they’re up to.

Cobbler Creek

If you live in the northern suburbs you’re already aware of this park, it’s magnificent. Sunset and sunrise are the best times, this park allow you to see how the light plays with its colours from the the foothills to the inner city. The 3.6km loop starts at the corner between Brigde rd and Smith rd (Salisbury East) and it’s perfect to bring your dog along too.

That’s it! Feel free to comment or send us an email if you want your favourite walk to be added, we’ll make a new blog with all the favourite ones of the people of Prospect Physio and Health Plus.

As usual, if you’re in pain or in discomfort, come in for a friendly chat with your local physios and a proper assessment. Click here to see who’s available!