New Delhi: Walking thrice a week can nearly halve the risk of recurrent back pain, a study has revealed. This research, the first of its kind, offers hope to the approximately 800 million people worldwide who suffer from low back pain.
Notably, seven out of ten individuals who recover from an episode of back pain experience recurrence within a year. The findings, published in The Lancet, point out the potential of walking to significantly impact the leading cause of disability globally. “You don’t need to be walking 5 or 10 kilometres every day to get these benefits,” Mark Hancock, the study’s senior author and a professor of physiotherapy at Macquarie University in Australia was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
“The key is to start with short walks and gradually increase the distance and intensity as your fitness improves.”
Researchers in the study added that walking is a low-cost, accessible exercise that can be incorporated into nearly anyone’s routine, regardless of geographic location, age, or socioeconomic status. Participants who walked three to five times a week, averaging 130 minutes per week, remained pain-free for nearly twice as long compared to those who did not engage in any treatment. Regular walking also enhanced their quality of life and significantly reduced the time they needed to take off work.
This research has been described as the world’s first randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of walking in preventing low back pain recurrence. It tracked 701 adults over three years. All participants had recently experienced an episode of low back pain. Half of the participants were enrolled in a walking scheme combined with educational sessions from a physiotherapist, while the other half received no specific intervention.
“The intervention group experienced fewer episodes of activity-limiting pain and had a longer average period before a recurrence, with a median of 208 days compared to 112 days for the control group,” Hancock said. “The risk of a recurrence that required seeking care was nearly halved for those in the intervention group.”
Participants were encouraged to gradually build up to walking 30 minutes, five times a week, over six months. After three months, most participants were walking three to five days a week, averaging a total of 130 minutes.
While the exact reasons walking is effective in preventing back pain are not fully understood, Hancock suggested that the benefits likely stem from a combination of gentle movements, loading and strengthening of spinal structures and muscles, relaxation and stress relief, and the release of endorphins.
Walking also offers numerous other health benefits, including improved cardiovascular health, bone density, weight management, and mental health.
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