Just when you thought that walking couldn’t boast any more benefits, a new study has found that it may be one of the most effective ways of preventing lower back pain. In a world-first piece of research, adults with a history of lower back trouble have been proven to go nearly twice as long without a painful flare-up if they walk regularly, compared to those who don’t.

Back pain is one of the most common and debilitating issues out there. Almost a million people in the UK are unable to work because of back and neck pain – costing the country £1.4 billion in sick pay a year. If you’ve not had a slipped disc or sciatica, you probably know someone who has and you’ll have heard just how life-disrupting it can be.  

One of the issues with back pain is that once you’ve experienced it, you live in fear of it returning – and with 70% of people going on to have a flare-up within a year, that’s not an unfounded anxiety. This clinical trial by Macquarie University’s Spinal Pain Research Group is potentially life-changing for millions of people. It followed 701 adults who’d recently recovered from a lower back pain flareup and randomly allocated them either a walking programme, a monthly physio session or a control. Depending on when they joined the trial, participants were followed for between one and three years.

According to Mark Hancock, the paper’s senior author and professor of physiotherapy at Macquarie University, walking was found to have a “profound” impact on lower back pain management and prevention. Researchers found that the walking group had fewer incidents of pain compared to the control group, with people going twice as long before having a recurrence (going over six months without a flare-up). 

“We don’t know exactly why walking is so good for preventing back pain, but it is likely to include the combination of the gentle oscillatory movements, loading and strengthening the spinal structures and muscles, relaxation and stress relief, and release of ‘feel-good’ endorphins,” explains Professor Hancock. “And of course, we also know that walking comes with many other health benefits, including cardiovascular health, bone density, healthy weight, and improved mental health.”

At Strong Women, we know the power walking can have over back pain only too well. Stylist’s digital director Ellen can often be found replying to emails while walking on her under-desk treadmill and has noticed her back feels more sore when she’s gone through a static period. “I have a foldable treadmill and a standing desk so I can walk while I work. On days or weeks when I don’t use it (when I’m sitting at my desk for most of the day), I definitely notice that my back and shoulders act up. I’ll often find myself struggling with back pain, particularly lower back pain, wondering why, and then realising I’ve been hunched over in my seat all day. If I make time to walk it out, it always helps.” 

Lead author Dr Natasha Pocovi notes that not only did walking improve participants’ quality of life, but it also reduced their need to seek healthcare support and cut in half the amount of time they took off work. She says that previous exercise-based back pain studies have been done in clinics using expensive equipment or involve being under instruction, which makes them inaccessible to some people. Many studies have shown the benefits of regular pilates, for example, and aquatic exercise. 

Walking, however, is one of the cheapest, easiest-to-access forms of exercise going. “Our study has shown that this effective and accessible means of exercise has the potential to be successfully implemented at a much larger scale than other forms of exercise,” says Dr Pocovi.  

Images: Getty