This is part of WTOP’s continuing coverage of people making a difference in our community, reported by Stephanie Gaines-Bryant. Read more of that coverage.
If you enjoy walking with a group, wouldn’t it be great to have a doctor walking with you?
Dr. Asha Subramanian, a family physician, leads the nonprofit Walk With A Doc program in Wheaton, Maryland. The group meets the third Saturday of each month at 9 a.m. during warmer months, and 10 a.m. during the winter at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton.
Before each walk, participants engage in a three-to-five-minute health education talk with a healthcare provider. Topics range from gut and heart health to the importance of fiber, as well as demonstrations of yoga poses and stretches. Afterward, the healthcare provider leads the group in a walk around the one-mile paved loop through the gardens.
Some people simply want to walk one mile, while others may walk five, Subramanian told WTOP, adding that the goal of the program is to make the activity accessible to people of all ages and ability levels. Participants talk with the provider during the walk, and although individual medical advice is not permitted, health education is provided.
“It’s a really nice forum to ask things you may not have time to ask during a regular medical appointment,” she said.
Walking in nature offers more than just cardiovascular benefits, Subramanian said.
“When we start walking, our blood pressure goes down, our stress level goes down, and it naturally boosts your mood,” she said.
Subramanian said she started the chapter after meeting the program’s founder, Dr. David Sabgir, at the American College of Lifestyle Medicine in 2018. Sabgir, a cardiologist based in Columbus, Ohio, launched the program in 2005, hoping to encourage people with chronic illnesses to make lifestyle changes.
The Montgomery County group has been active for five years, drawing anywhere from 15 to 30 walkers. More than 100 people attended the first walk, and the organization has grown to 500 chapters worldwide.
You can find more local chapters in D.C., Virginia and Maryland on Walk With a Doc’s website.
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