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How many minutes of daily walking lowers the risk of back pain by 23%? New study

It turns out, how many minutes you spend walking matters more than the intensity of that walk.

man walking outside by the trees
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Walking is simple and often underrated, but it’s natural, free, and gives you a chance to switch off and step out into the great outdoors, or at least walk around your neighborhood. As someone who deals with an inflammatory autoimmune bone condition that affects my spine, there are times when getting up and moving and walking around definitely helps my back feel a little bit better, so I can attest to this.

In a recent study, researchers explored whether the amount and intensity of daily walking affected the risk of developing chronic low back pain.

The study

A recent study published in Jama Network Open involved 11,194 adults in Norway who didn’t have chronic back pain. 6564 of the participants were women, and the rest were men. Each participant wore an accelerometer device to measure the amount of walking they did and their walking intensity over several days. All participants had at least one valid day of good-quality data. Researchers checked back about 4 years later to determine which participants had developed low back pain (pain lasting at least 3 months in the past year). 

The results

The researchers concluded the following:

  • At follow-up, 1659 participants (about 14.8%) had reported chronic low back pain by the end of the study.
  • Those who walked for more than 100 minutes per day had a 23% lower risk of developing lower back pain than those who walked fewer than 78 minutes per day.
  • Those who walked more each day were less likely to get chronic low back pain. The benefits increased up to around 125 minutes of walking per day before leveling off.
  • Faster or more intense walking was more beneficial, but the total time spent walking mattered most.
  • Compared with those who walked fewer than 78 minutes per day, walking 78-100 minutes per day reduced the risk of chronic low back pain by 13%. Walking 101-124 minutes per day lowered that risk by 23%, and walking 125 minutes or more per day was associated with a 24% risk reduction.

The bottom line

The bottom line in this study is that the more time you spend walking every day, the lower your risk of developing chronic back pain, with this benefit leveling off at around 125 minutes. Both the walking intensity and the amount of walking lowered the chances of developing low back pain. You don’t need to be concerned with walking so fast that you’re tripping over yourself, because it’s the amount of walking that makes more of a difference than the walking intensity, at least in this study. Time for a brisk walk around the block?

Steph Green (Steph Zee) is a singer-songwriter and professional writer with over 12 years of experience in healthcare and… Read Full Bio
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