Researchers Discover Surprisingly Simple Way to Ease Lower Back Pain

Over 700 participants were followed for up to three years, with the walking group also receiving guided education sessions. Not only did they experience fewer recurrences, but their need for medical care and work absences was cut in half. Researchers say this simple, low-cost activity could revolutionize back pain prevention worldwide—and it’s something almost anyone can do, the journal Lancet reported.

A groundbreaking study has revealed that adults with a history of low back pain stayed pain-free for nearly twice as long when they walked regularly. This is the first research of its kind to demonstrate such a significant benefit from a simple activity.

Low back pain affects around 800 million people across the globe and is one of the top causes of disability and diminished quality of life.

Experiencing back pain more than once is also extremely common. About 70 percent of individuals who recover from an episode will face another one within a year.

While current guidelines recommend both exercise and education to manage and prevent back pain, many exercise programs are expensive, complex, or require close supervision, making them inaccessible to large segments of the population.

To explore a more practical solution, researchers at Macquarie University’s Spinal Pain Research Group conducted a clinical trial to test whether walking could serve as an effective and affordable alternative.

They tracked 701 adults who had recently recovered from back pain, randomly assigning them either to a personalized walking program paired with six education sessions guided by a physiotherapist over six months, or to a control group that did not receive the intervention.

Participants were monitored for one to three years, depending on when they entered the study. The results were published in The Lancet.

Professor Mark Hancock, senior author of the paper and a physiotherapy expert at Macquarie University, said the findings have the potential to significantly reshape the way back pain is prevented and treated.

“The intervention group had fewer occurrences of activity-limiting pain compared to the control group, and a longer average period before they had a recurrence, with a median of 208 days compared to 112 days,” Professor Hancock says.

“Walking is a low-cost, widely accessible, and simple exercise that almost anyone can engage in, regardless of geographic location, age, or socioeconomic status.

“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.

“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.”

Lead author Dr. Natasha Pocovi says in addition to providing participants with longer pain-free periods, the program was very cost-effective.

“It not only improved people’s quality of life, but it reduced their need both to seek healthcare support and the amount of time taken off work by approximately half,” she says.

“The exercise-based interventions to prevent back pain that have been explored previously are typically group-based and need close clinical supervision and expensive equipment, so they are much less accessible to the majority of patients.

“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.”

To build on these findings, the team now hopes to explore how they can integrate the preventive approach into the routine care of patients who experience recurrent low back pain.

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