Hikers who use trekking poles know from their own experience that trekking poles increase stability and reduce lower body joint stress.
I ran across a study that you guys might be interested in, one that quantified the degree to which trekking poles improve hiking efficiency.
Participants “completed two hiking trials on consecutive days. Each athlete was randomly assigned to one of two groups. Group 1 acted as the control group and completed both trials without poles. Group 2 hiked the first day without poles and the second day with poles. Both trials were completed on Snow King Mountain in Jackson, WY. The hiking path was a 1000m (.62 mile) stretch of the mountain’s boot pack trail. The path covered approximately 3281ft of horizontal distance and 1556ft of vertical distance, giving the route an average grade of 47.4% (27.1 degrees).”
Without going into details on physiological parameters that were examined or precisely how their statistical data were analyzed, the bottom-line results of their study were as follows:
“To assess overall metabolic efficiency, we once again turned to the connection between HR and speed called: Heart Rate-Running Speed Index. . . . If trekking poles do improve efficiency, the effects should be seen as increases in the group’s Heart Rate-Running Speed Index.
As you can see in GRAPH 2, the trekking pole group experienced a 16.0% increase in efficiency (based on their HR-Running Speed Index) while the non-pole group experienced only a 5.0% increase. The means that the trekking pole group gained about 11.0% more efficiency. Our real-world results add weight to the laboratory studies which show that trekking poles can have a positive effect on uphill movement. . . .
When hiking uphill at significant grade, under significant load (approximately 47% grade and 40% bodyweight), trekking poles increase efficiency by approximately 10% and decrease perceived effort by 20%.”
See
http://mtntactical.com/research/steep-g ... efficient/.