(Ernie Mundell – HealthDay News) – If you have recovered from a lower back pain, try to stay away from a recurrence. New research out of Australia shows that people who started a walking regimen kept at bay recurrent episodes of Back pain for much longer than people who didn’t.
“We don’t know exactly why walking is so good for preventing back pain, but it likely includes combination of gentle oscillatory movements, loading and strengthening the structures and muscles of the spine, relaxation and stress relief, and the release of feel-good endorphins,” said the study’s lead author, Mark Hancock. He is a professor of physiotherapy at Macquarie University in Sydney.
More than 800 million people worldwide suffer from low back pain, according to background information from the study authors. In 7 out of 10 cases, the pain will ease, only to return later.
Special exercise programs, along with patient education about back pain, are often part of standard care aimed at preventing a recurrence.
Hancock’s team wondered if walking could help.
“Walking is a low-cost, widely accessible and easy exercise that almost anyone can participate in, regardless of geographic location, age or socioeconomic status,” reasoned in a Macquarie press release.
In the new trial, 701 adults who had recently recovered from an episode of low back pain were randomly assigned to an individualized walking program and six physical therapist-led education sessions over six months, or to a control group that received neither. both.
The result: “The intervention group had fewer cases 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.” before a recurrence, Hancock said. The findings were published in the June 19 issue of The Lancet.
The study’s lead author, Dr. Natasha Pocovi, said: The benefits of walking went beyond eliminating pain.
“Not only did it improve people’s quality of life, it reduced both their need to seek healthcare support and the amount of time they were away from work by about half,” said Pocovi, who is a postdoctoral fellow at Macquarie.
The walking program was also easy and cheap. “Exercise-based interventions to prevent back pain that have been previously explored are typically group-based and require close clinical supervision and expensive equipment, making them much less accessible to most patients,” Pocovi explained.
“And, of course, we also know that Walking has many other health benefits, such as cardiovascular health, bone density, healthy weight and better mental health,” Hancock added.
More information. Learn more about back pain treatment at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
SOURCE: Macquarie University, media release, June 19, 2024
*Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporters ©The New York Times 2024
