Nagging Back Pain? Walk it Off
New study shows a daily stroll may prevent the recurrence of back pain.
The problem with back pain is that it boomerangs. And it’s hard to shake once it sets in. Roughly seven in ten people who recover from an episode of low back pain experience a recurrence within the following year.
Given that the average spine has over 120 muscles, 220 ligaments, and 100 joints, there’s a lot that can go wrong, and it does. By some estimates, over 600 million people globally have low back pain, and nearly twice as many females as males live with it. Currently, it’s the leading cause of disability worldwide.
A new study offers hope. Australian scientists revealed that the answer to decreasing the risk of recurrence of low back pain may be found in something as simple as your own two feet: walking.
“The findings could have a profound impact on how low back pain is managed,” Mark Hancock, Professor of Physiotherapy at Macquarie University and the paper’s senior author, commented.
Back to the basics
Given that Thomas Jefferson is said to have walked 4 miles every day and lived to be 83 at a time when the average life expectancy was only 40 years old, he may have been on to something. Walking is ideally suited to improving…
