My stand on hiking canes remains unchanged.
I think they’re great for the elderly and infirm.
Just kidding.
I’m astonished at how popular this new activity is in Europe. It’s HUGE compared with North America.
Europe has dedicated Nordic Walking paths.
Nordic walking is defined as fitness walking with specially designed poles. … Hikers with knee pain discovered they could walk more powerfully with a pair of trekking poles, often eliminate or reduce hip, knee, and foot pain, and backpackers found relief from painful backs when using poles. …
Check out a video tutorial by trekkingpoleguru.
Swedes call it stavgång. In Norway and Denmark it is stavgang. And to the Estonians it is kepikönd.
besthike.com 
Nordic Walking …. that’s the power of marketing. Just as an example, here in the Dolomites we had the elder people (especially the german ones) that walk around with poles since ages. As a young boy I remember we cheated this strange fatty figures walking around with poles. Around 15 years ago there was also the problem that sticking the poles in the ground near the trails, was ruining them.
But suddenly … a cool name came out .. “Nordic walking” … it was not anymore “Walk with poles like an elder person” …. it became “Nordic walking” … cool … a new trend, and if you want to be like the others you have to follow trends. But as all trends, something the curve goes down again … until the name “nordic walking” will not be reinvented in another cool name.