Adults with a history of low back pain went almost twice as long without their back pain returning if they walked regularly, a world-first study found.
Around 800 million people worldwide suffer from low back pain and it is a leading cause of disability and reduced quality of life.
Repeated episodes of low back pain are also very common: seven out of 10 people who recover from an episode have a recurrence within a year.
Current best practices for back pain management and prevention suggest combining exercise and education. However, some forms of exercise are not accessible or affordable for many people due to their high cost, complexity, and need for supervision.
A clinical trial conducted by Macquarie University’s Spinal Pain Research Group has examined whether walking could be an effective, cost-effective and accessible intervention.
The trial followed 701 adults who had recently recovered from an episode of low back pain, and randomly assigned participants to an individualized walking program and six educational sessions guided by a physical therapist over six months, or to a control group.
The researchers followed the participants for between one and three years, depending on when they joined, and the results have now been published in the latest issue of The lancet.
The paper’s lead author, Mark Hancock, a professor of physiotherapy at Macquarie University, says the findings could have a profound impact on how low back pain is managed.
“The intervention group had fewer episodes of activity-limiting pain compared to the control group, and a longer average period before they suffered a recurrence, with a median of 208 days compared to 112 days,” says the Professor Hancock.
“Walking is a simple, widely accessible and low-cost exercise that almost anyone can do, regardless of geographic location, age or socioeconomic status.
“We don’t know exactly why walking is so good for preventing back pain, but it likely includes a combination of gentle oscillatory movements, loading and strengthening spinal structures and muscles, relaxation and stress relief, and stress release. the feeling. -good’ endorphins.
“And of course, we also know that walking carries many other health benefits, including cardiovascular health, bone density, healthy weight, and better mental health.”
Lead author Dr Natasha Pocovi says that in addition to giving participants longer pain-free periods, the program was highly cost-effective.
“Not only did it improve people’s quality of life, but it reduced their need to seek healthcare and time off work by approximately half,” he says.
“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.
“Our study has shown that this effective and accessible means of exercise has the potential to be successfully implemented on 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 preventative approach into the routine care of patients experiencing recurrent low back pain.