Preventing low back pain can be straightforward with a simple lifestyle change: regular walking. Research from a new randomized clinical trial highlights that individuals who incorporated regular walking into their routine after experiencing low back pain were significantly less likely to experience recurring pain compared to those who did not.
The study, led by senior author Mark Hancock, a professor of physiotherapy at Macquarie University in Sydney, found that participants in the walking group experienced activity-limiting pain less frequently and had a longer average pain-free period. Specifically, those who walked regularly had a median pain-free period of 208 days, compared to 112 days for those who did not engage in regular walking.
Hancock emphasized that walking is a low-cost, universally accessible activity that requires no special equipment or location, making it suitable for people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. This finding underscores the potential of simple, everyday activities to significantly impact health outcomes, offering a practical approach to managing and reducing the burden of low back pain globally.
