Walking helps ease lower back pain

If you suffer from lower back pain, you need not go to costly and time-consuming sessions with a physical therapist – just walk! That is the advice from a researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Stanley Steyer School of Health Professions at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

Dr. Michal Katz-Leurer and her colleague Ilana Shnayderman, a graduate student at Tel Aviv University’s department of physical therapy and a practicing physiotherapist at Maccabi Health Fund, maintain that a simple aerobic walking program is as effective in alleviating lower back pain as muscle strengthening programs that require specialized equipment in rehabilitation clinics. One need walk only two to three times a week for 20 to 40 minutes to enjoy the benefit.

Lower back pain is very common at all ages and often requires many hours of physical therapy. But the researchers, whose study was just published in the journal Clinical Rehabilitation, say their treatment option fits easily into a daily routine and allows those with back pain to be more responsible for their own health.

According to their study, people suffering from lower back pain should not rest in bed and be immobile. When people walk actively, abdominal and back muscles work in much the same way as when they complete exercises that target these areas, the researchers found. And unlike muscle-strengthening programs, which often call for specific equipment and can involve exercises that require expert supervision, walking is a simple activity that can be done alone.

For the study, the researchers recruited 52 patients with lower back pain to participate in a randomized control trial.

Through questionnaires, they were initially assessed for pain levels, feelings of disability and avoidance of daily activities, as well as muscle and walking endurance.

Then, half of the participants completed a typical clinic-based muscle strengthening program, with two to three exercise sessions a week for six weeks. The other half completed a six-week aerobic walking program, walking two to three times weekly. Participants started with 20 minutes of walking, then progressed to 40 minutes as their endurance improved.

Results showed that both groups improved significantly in all areas of assessment, showing that the walking program was “as effective as treatment that could have been received in the clinic,” said Katz-Leurer.

She continued that the walking program has the additional advantage of encouraging patients to follow a healthier lifestyle overall. In terms of physical fitness, those in the walking group were able to walk an average of 0.05 miles farther during a six-minute walking test at the end of the program compared to the pre-program assessments.

She also noted that regularly active people are less likely to suffer typical aches and pains over their lifetime. Walking, a low-impact activity, also lowers blood pressure, boosts brain and immune system functioning and reduces stress, she said.