Walk This Many Minutes A Day To Prevent Lower Back Pain

According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), up to 60% of the adult population will have low back pain at some point in their lifetime and at any given moment, 3–4% of adults below 45 years of age have chronic low back pain and 5–7% of adults over 45 years of age have chronic low back pain.

While this is something that can have a significant impact on our lives, researchers have actually found that we could prevent this by simply walking more than we already do.

According to government data, people on average in the UK walk for around 11 to 13 minutes per day and, well, that’s nowhere near enough.

How many minutes should we walk for to prevent back pain?

If you’re somebody who doesn’t walk enough, this may come as a shock but researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology said: “People who walk more than 100 minutes every day have a 23 percent lower risk of lower back problems than those who walk 78 minutes or less.”

Sorry.

However, there is good news for us slow walkers out there. 

Rayane Haddadj, a PhD candidate at the Department of Public Health and Nursing at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) said: “The results are clear: People who walk a lot have less back pain than people who do not walk much – and the volume is what matters most, not the intensity.. It is better to walk a lot than to walk fast.”

A total of 11,194 people participated in the study and what makes this study unique is that the volume and intensity of daily walking were measured using two sensors that participants wore on their thigh and back for up to a week.

Researchers added in their statement: “The results may be important in relation to preventing chronic back problems. Until now, there has been little research on the prevention of these types of musculoskeletal problems.”

Time to get your steps in!