You Only Need One Exercise To Gain Control Over Your Low Back Pain

If you’re a human, you have an 84% chance of suffering from an episode of low back pain at some point in your life.

Back pain can be scary, and misinformation about recovering from it is rife on the internet.

But recovery doesn’t have to be complex, and it doesn’t have to involve visiting a masseuse or chiropractor every week for the rest of your life.

The simplest way to promote healing and movement in your lower back is to walk regularly.

I want to stress that walking is not a magic fix, it’s simply a way to re-introduce gentle movement to your spine and increase your physical activity which will aid your recovery.

Your lower back muscles play an essential role in stabilizing and moving the spine while walking. If you don't walk often, these muscles can become weak and increase spinal stiffness, which could potentially perpetuate your lower back pain.

Walking is a great way to strengthen your lower back muscles and improve mobility.

The benefits of walking for low back pain include:

1. Increased lower back muscular endurance and strength

2. Increased flexibility and mobility in your lower back

3. Increased blood flow to your back muscles and spinal joints

4. Relaxation and mindfulness to help you cope with your pain

5. Reduces fear of movement & encourages gentle spinal movements

What does the research say?

Walking is highly effective for treating low back pain (LBP).

A study of over 5,000 people with low back pain found that walking was associated with a reduced risk of LBP. It also found that those who walked more often had reduced LBP.

Another study demonstrated that walking was as effective as other non-pharmacological interventions on back pain and disability in the short-term (< 3 months), and long-term (3-12 months).

How you can use walking to treat your lower back pain:

You’re going to use a combination of gradually increasing your step count/walking time and tracking your pain response.

1. Track your daily step count with a pedometer or phone for 1 week.

2. Use an activity diary to keep track of your daily step count → Your daily step count should be within pain-tolerable limits.

3. Calculate the weekly average of your steps from the first week.

4. Increase your weekly average steps by 5% per week → Keep in mind the increase in steps should be within your pain-tolerable limits.

This formula can be helpful if you’re a goal-orientated person.

Document your pain levels in your activity diary:

• How long you can walk before the pain starts.

• How far you go before the pain increases beyond tolerable levels.

Understand your pain response to increased walking distances and aim to increase the pain tolerable distance or time of your walks every week.

Don’t keep pushing if you start to experience severe, sharp pain.

If you prefer to track progression using time:

• Start with daily pain tolerable 5-10 minute walks and progressively overload.

• Add 1-2 minutes onto every daily walk → This must be within your pain tolerable limits.

Use Apps to help you keep a record of your daily walking:

• Apple Health app → Lets you set daily step targets and shows weekly and monthly step averages.

• Active 10 → A free app that seamlessly tracks your steps, helps you to set goals, and gives you tips on how to be more active.

What to do if regular walking is too painful at the moment:

Relax, and remember you will recover with time.

Then, try walking in a shallow pool.

The buoyancy of the water takes weight and stress off your joints, it also helps tight muscles to relax and let go.

Walking in water may provide you enough relief to keep up your walking and remain active.

BONUS TIP:

Walk in nature as often as you can.

I recommend you hike in nature every weekend for your mental and physical health.

Walking in nature has numerous added benefits:

• Promotes creativity

• Improves your mood

• Decreases stress & anxiety

• Increases oxygen to your brain

• Improves your cognitive function

• Strengthens your immune system

This information is for entertainment purposes only, none of this is medical advice. If you have any pain or injury, I suggest you see a licensed health professional for an assessment.

Thats it!

Reply to this email if you have any questions about recovering from lower back pain.

Thank you for taking the time to learn & improve your health today.

Zak Wolstenholme

Aussie Physiotherapist 🇦🇺