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Try This Simple Remedy for Back Pain
New research suggests walking may help protect the back, reduce pain and keep chronic low-back pain from returning
Research has found that walking can relieve chronic low back pain.
Sam Island
Key takeaways
- Regular walking may lower the risk of chronic low-back pain, reduce pain and disability, and help prevent recurrences.
- A walking and education program reduced participants’ risk of another low-back pain episode by 28 percent.
- Start with 10 to 15 minutes once or twice daily, walk at a comfortable pace and increase activity gradually.
Does your back hurt when you get out of bed, lift groceries or stand up from a chair? Join the club. Back pain is one of the most common pain complaints among U.S. adults, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the back is the most prevalent site of pain overall.
For many people, the instinct is to move less, not more. That’s understandable because when your back hurts, you may worry that exercising or simply moving too much will make the pain worse.
But newer research suggests that for many people the right kind of movement may be one of the best tools to protect their back: walking.
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A 2025 study in JAMA Network Open followed more than 11,000 adults over four years, and the results were pretty amazing. Researchers found that those who walked around two hours a day in total had a much lower risk of developing chronic low-back pain than those who walked less.
Even more interesting, you don’t need to power walk; just walking consistently throughout the day is enough. Other research supports walking for people who already have chronic low-back pain. A 2026 review of randomized trials published in PM&R found that walking programs reduced pain and disability in people who have chronic low-back pain.
And if you have recovered from low-back pain, walking may help keep it from returning. In a randomized clinical trial published in The Lancet, people who walked regularly and received educational support reduced their risk of new episodes of low-back pain by 28 percent.
One of the many reasons the results were impressive is that the participants were highly sedentary at the beginning of the study, sitting an average of eight hours a day and walking only about an hour a week, said Natasha Pocovi, a research fellow at Macquarie University’s Spinal Pain Research Centre in Sydney, Australia, and lead author of the study.
“We just wanted to get them started,” Pocovi ays. “If they can stick it out initially, their motivation improves, because they start to feel better. Participants told us, ‘My mental health is better, I’m less stressed, I’m losing weight, I’m better managing my chronic health conditions.’ ”
Walking is already popular among older adults. A 2022 AARP survey found that more than half of adults age 50 and over engage in one or two walking activities in a typical week. A full 86 percent of those walked for 10 minutes or more, and nearly half walked for at least 30 minutes.
Fewer episodes of pain
In the Lancet trial, researchers randomly assigned half of the 701 participants to follow a progressive walking and education program, which involved six visits with a physical therapist over six months. Researchers instructed the other participants to continue their usual activities. Some visits with the physical therapist were in person, while others were virtual.
People assigned to the walking and education program went about 200 days without a recurrence of back pain that limited their activities, almost twice as long as the other participants, who suffered a relapse after a median of 112 days. Researchers defined an episode of back pain as one that lasted at least 24 hours, with a pain intensity greater than 2 on a scale of 0 to 10, and at least somewhat interfered with daily activities. Participants had experienced about 30 episodes of low-back pain before beginning the study.
The key message: Walking does not have to be intense to help. It simply should be doable enough that people will keep doing it.
Good for the soul
Dr. Charla Fischer, codirector of the Endoscopic Spine Surgery Program at NYU Langone Orthopedics, said the study confirms what spine surgeons have been telling their patients for years. Although many patients who have back surgery are afraid to exercise, Fischer said that starting slowly and cautiously can help people overcome their anxiety.
“I’ll tell patients after surgery to just walk for five minutes,” Fischer said. “It’s not only good for preventing blood clots, but it’s good for the soul.”
Three months into the Lancet study, those assigned to the exercise program walked about 6,500 steps a day — around 600 more steps than those in the comparison group. Physical therapists tailored their exercise recommendations to each participant, discussing their health and what would motivate them to move more. Participants assigned to the walking program were given pedometers to count their steps and asked to keep a walking diary.
Early wins
Physical therapists, who underwent additional training and served as health coaches, checked in regularly with participants, asking if they had completed their walking assignments. That accountability was key, Pocovi said. “The patients said, ‘Walking is easy, but if you just asked me to go walking, I wouldn’t have done it,’ ” Pocovi explained.
In the beginning, participants were asked to complete as few as two to three 10-minute walks a week, Pocovi said.
“We wanted to get them walking most days for half hour, but we wanted to make sure we started really low,” Pocovi said. “If you overreach in the first week or two, that’s really demotivating,” because people may not be able to keep up or may feel sore.
“You want them to have some early wins,” she explained. “People find that much more motivating.”
Why walking can help your back
Low-back pain is a leading cause of disability worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates that low-back pain affected 619 million people globally in 2020, with cases projected to rise to 843 million by 2050.
Walking is an inexpensive, low-impact, low-risk activity that almost anyone can do, whether outdoors, on an indoor track, on a treadmill or at a mall, Pocovi points out. Rates of injury in the Lancet study were about the same for those assigned to the walking program and those left on their own, although the people assigned to walk had more injuries to their feet and ankles during the study. Walking also has many known benefits, such as improving cardiovascular health, increasing bone density and helping people maintain a healthy weight.
But it may help the back in more specific ways as well.
Dr. Jaspal “Ricky” Singh, vice chair of rehabilitation medicine at Weill Cornell in New York City, is a big believer in walking for back health. “Walking is accessible, low-cost, scalable and safe for most people,” he says. It helps activate the core, glutes and hip muscles that support the lower back, while also improving hip and pelvic mobility. As he puts it, “Regular walking may be one of the most practical ‘spine wellness’ tools available.” Walking helps activate the core, glutes and hip muscles that support the lower back, Singh says.
Getting started with a back-friendly walking plan
Pocovi said there are lots of ways for people to achieve results similar to those of participants in the study. She recommends asking doctors to write a referral for a physical therapy visit. If people can’t access physical therapy, they can seek help from a health coach or trainer at a gym.
People who exercise with friends can hold each other accountable, even if they don’t have access to a physical therapist, Pocovi said.
Friends, colleagues or neighbors can arrange to walk at regular times throughout the week — and make sure that everyone shows up.
Singh also recommends starting small, especially for people who are sedentary or already have occasional low-back stiffness.
His back-friendly walking plan looks like this:
- Start with 10 to 15 minutes. Walk once or twice a day at a pace that allows you to talk comfortably.
- Break it up. Several short walks may be better than one long walk, especially if you sit for long periods. Walking around the house counts.
- Build gradually. Avoid doing too much too soon. Add time slowly before increasing speed or distance.
- Don’t worry about power walking. Having a consistent walking routine is more important than walking intensity, according to the newer research.
- Add strength and mobility work. Walking is an excellent foundation, but Singh says the best spine-wellness programs combine aerobic activity with targeted strengthening and mobility exercises. He recommends glute bridges, bird-dog exercises and gentle hip-flexor and hip-mobility stretching if the weather is bad or you aren’t comfortable walking outdoors.
For those who can’t walk
People who find walking painful due to joint pain or other issues can still benefit from other forms of exercise, such as swimming, said Dr. Carrie Jaworski, past president of the American College of Sports Medicine. “Bed rest is not the answer,” Jaworski says. “We need to get people over their fear of movement.”
Both the North American Spine Society and the American College of Sports Medicine offer advice on exercises and activity for people withlow-back pain. (And AARP has 8 Exercises for Low-Back Pain.)
People who can’t swim can opt for water aerobics or walking in the water, Jaworski said.
“Just moving in the water — moving your arms and legs in the water — allows your muscles to relax,” she says. For many kinds of aches and pain, “movement is going to be your best friend.”
Other ways to help prevent back pain include stretching and strengthening core muscles — around the pelvis, hips, stomach and lower back — through exercise programs such as yoga, tai chi, or Pilates, Jaworski says.
“As we get older, our tendons and ligaments get tighter,” she says. “If someone has incredibly tight hamstrings, they are going to be more prone to back pain.”
Start slowly
When beginning a new exercise routine, Jaworski suggests resting between active days. If people don’t experience an increase in pain, they can aim to increase their exercise by about 10 percent per week.
“If you do five minutes of walking and your pain is through the roof, then seek medical help,” Pocovi says.
Singh suggests calling a doctor if you have severe or worsening pain, pain shooting down the leg, numbness, weakness, fever, unexplained weight loss, pain after a fall, or new bowel or bladder symptoms. Many people exercise less as they age, often because of concerns about pain or balance, says Colleen Louw, a physical therapist who is program director for the Therapeutic Pain Specialist Certification at Evidence in Motion.
People who are concerned about their health should see a doctor before beginning a new workout program, Louw says.
“The less you move, the worse your balance will become,” Louw says. “Aging and pain are not correlated; inactivity and pain are correlated ... if you’re not moving, you’re not living.”
Singh makes a similar point. “My goal is not simply preventing back pain. It is preserving mobility, independence and quality of life over the next several decades.” That just might be the real prescription: Keep walking toward the life you want to keep living.
Video: 10-Minute Indoor Walking Workout With Denise Austin
Editor's note: This story, first published July 11, 2024, has been updated.
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