If You Want to Sidestep Chronic Low Back Pain, Keep on Walking

Chronic low back pain is common and tough to treat. Victims may have trouble with work or, worse, find it difficult to enjoy normal life activities. In a survey, over 60 million Americans reported a recent episode of back pain. Approximately 16 million complain of chronic low back pain, which is a leading reason people miss work.

You Can Reduce Your Risk of Chronic Low Back Pain:

A new study published in JAMA Network Open suggests a simple intervention could reduce the risk (JAMA Network Open, June 13, 2025). The researchers studied more than 30,000 Norwegian adults who agreed to wear motion sensing devices. They each wore the accelerometer for a week at some point between 2017 and 2019.

A total of 11,194 volunteers participated in the follow-up data collection in 2021 to 2023. Compared to people walking 78 minutes a day or less, those who walked at least 100 minutes a day were 23 percent less likely to have developed chronic low back pain. Exceeding 125 minutes per day lowered the risk by 24 percent, which is pretty much indistinguishable. Walking speed (measured as intensity in MET) did not seem to make as much difference as duration.

Walking at least 100 minutes daily seemed most protective for people over 65 years of age. Perhaps that is because their risk of chronic low back pain is higher. The investigators did not say. They did suggest, however, that their findings might apply beyond Norway. Norwegians are similar to people in other high-income countries with respect to physical activity.

According to the researchers,

“These findings suggest that policies and public health strategies promoting walking could help to reduce the occurrence of chronic LBP [low back pain].”

Pay Attention to Pronation While Walking:

Anyone planning to walk almost two hours a day should make sure they have footgear that supports the way their foot hits the ground. More than a decade ago, scientists discovered that women who roll their feet inward as they walk are 50 percent more likely to suffer chronic low back pain (Rheumatology, online Sept. 17, 2013). The researchers included 1,930 people in the study, measuring their feet to determine whether they had flat feet or normal or high arches.

The volunteers also walked across a pressure-sensitive mat that detected pronation. This is the movement of the foot from the outer edge rolling in as a person walks. Women who pronate were more likely to have back pain. The investigators suggest that orthotics might help relieve back pain for women whose feet roll in.

Yoga for Chronic Low Back Pain:

Walking is easy for most people, but those who hate walking or have no place that is safe to walk could consider another option. A review by the Cochrane Collaboration found in 2017 that yoga might help. The investigators reviewed 12 different studies with more than 1,000 volunteers participating. All these studies compared yoga to physical therapy or to educational sessions to serve as a control. Only one study looked at yoga combined with exercises designed to strengthen back muscles and ease pain. That study did not show clearly that there was an advantage to including yoga along with exercise. More recently, this research team considered additional studies and came to an even more measured conclusion (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Nov. 18, 2022).

They wrote:

“There is low- to moderate-certainty evidence that yoga compared to no exercise results in small and clinically unimportant improvements in back-related function and pain. There is probably little or no difference between yoga and other back-related exercise for back-related function at three months, although it remains uncertain whether there is any difference between yoga and other exercise for pain and quality of life.”

Pick the Instructor Carefully:

We have interviewed a few experts about using yoga to ease various sorts of pain, from shoulder problems to osteoarthritis. You can listen to Show 1065: How Can Yoga Benefit Everyone and Show 1043: How to Strengthen Bones and Fix Your Body with Yoga.  In addition, there is Show 1203: How Yoga Can Help You Age Gracefully. The experts agree that therapeutic yoga should be taught by a yoga teacher with training in adapting the exercises so they provide benefit and do not harm the patient.