Long walks could both treat and prevent chronic low back pain, according to emerging research.
A population-based study in Norway found people who walked for more than 78 minutes a day on average significantly reduced their risk of developing chronic low back pain, even if it’s just a slow stroll.
Back pain is one of the leadings causes of disability worldwide, but despite what you might have been sold, the solution for many is not simply better posture. An expensive ergonomic chair is no match for plain old movement.
Guidelines for lower back pain generally recommend physical activity; however, the link between lower back pain and walking in particular is only just coming to light.
Related: The ‘Japanese Walking’ Fitness Trend Has Science-Backed Benefits
In 2024, a randomized controlled trial found that walking five times a week for at least 30 minutes can effectively keep non-specific chronic back pain from flaring up.
Now, research from Norway suggests longer bouts of walking may reduce the risk of low back pain developing in the first place.
The study analyzed health data from more than 11,000 adults in Norway over several years. For a full week, participants wore an accelerometer on their right thigh and lower back to measure how much they walked throughout the day and at what pace.
Chronic back pain was reported if any low back pain lasted more than three months.
Over the years, those who walked between 78 and 100 minutes a day on average had a 13 percent lower risk of developing chronic back pain than those who walked less than 78 minutes a day.
What’s more, those who walked more than 100 minutes a day had a 23 percent lower risk than those who walked less than 78 minutes on the daily.
People who walked at a higher intensity also saw benefits, but these were less pronounced.
“Our findings suggest that daily walking volume is more important than mean walking intensity in reducing the risk of chronic lower back pain,” write the authors, led by health scientist Rayane Haddadj from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
“These findings suggest that policies and public health strategies promoting walking could help to reduce the occurrence of chronic lower back pain.”
Modern sedentary lifestyles are not looking good for human health, and study after study suggests we need to get up and move more to offset the negative effects of sitting all day.
Going for long or brisk walks may help you maintain a healthy weight, boost your creativity, protect your aging brain, improve your heart health, lower your risk of cancer, and add years to your lifespan.
But the association between walking and lower back pain “remains largely unexplored”, according to Haddadj and colleagues. The few findings we do have suggests walking is an overlooked remedy for low back pain.
More than two thousand years ago, the so-called father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, predicted that, “walking is man’s best medicine.”
He may have been on to something.
The study was published in JAMA Network Open.
