pain during walking

Question
QUESTION: Hello:

My name is Mary and I am 36 yrs. old. I started doing an exercise routine about a month ago. I walk 5 times a week for 30-60 minutes. For the past week I have been experiencing pain in my calves and ankles. My warm-up consists of a five minute walk in a normal pace; speed up the pace for 8 minutes, then back down to 5 minutes in a normal pace until I complete 30 or 60 min. I feel the pain and burning in my ankles and calves even during a normal pace walk. Am I doing something wrong?

ANSWER: You don't mention how fast you are trying to walk or if your weight is normal. Either of these could be involved in your pain and related to the short time you have been on your walking program.

Depending on your overall health and previous activity levels, suddenly starting 30-60 minutes of walking per day (some of it brisk)can be tough on your body. I like to see people ease into walking programs more gradually. Only after building up mileage over many weeks should you attempt any faster walking.

It might help to just back off on the fast walking, and perhaps on the total time walked for a while. Give your body, especially your ligaments and tendons, time to adapt to the stresses. If there is a weight issue, it would also help to cut back moderately on calories to reduce weight, which will also reduce stresses on the legs.

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QUESTION: My weight was 134lbs and I have lost 7 lbs. I actually walk about 3 mph.

ANSWER: Congratulations on your weight loss. Losing weight no faster than 1.5 pounds per week is the way to do it -- slow and steady. And if you keep it up, it will help you with your leg pain.

The rest of my comments are still good advice. Cut back on your mileage, and skip the fast walking for a while. Then, gradually add back walking time. Later on, you can bring in some faster walking.

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QUESTION: One last thing. What do you recommend for walking shoes? and is it better to walk outside (ex: park) or a treadmill? What do you recommend? Thank you for your wonderful help.

Answer
I did forget to mention shoes. It is very important to get running shoes fitted for your personal mechanical characteristics. Most running specialty stores can help you with this. Running shoes have too many advantages to even consider walking shoes.

Walking outdoors is preferable to treadmills, but treadmills are better than nothing when weather turns bad.