Cut Back Pain Risk By 24% With This Norwegian Habit

Back pain is quite a pain. However, a team of Norwegian researchers (Dr. Anne Nordstoga et al.) have investigated the effect of a popular Norwegian pastime:

Spasetur.

Or rusletur.

Or if you’re feeling extra casual about it, maybe slentrende rusler.

Or perhaps just simply vandring.

Or in plain English: walking!

Here be science

Lest that seem unduly built-up with dramatic tension for something so simple as walking, don’t worry, there is more to be said too, because the research shone light on what the most important aspect of walking is, when it comes not just to health in general, but also the reduction of back pain incidence specifically.

• Is it about distance?
• Time spent walking?
• Walking speed?
• Weight carried?
• Something else?

This study focused on amount and intensity, including taking both factors into account at once.

For example, perhaps one person walks quickly but for less time, while another takes longer to do the same walk. Whose walk was best for their back? The person who walked more briskly, or the one who walked for more time?

Dr. Nordstoga and her team found that walking more and at a higher average intensity both lowered the risk of developing chronic low back pain, but that the most impactful factor was time spent walking, even when adjustments were made for “metabolic equivalent time” (MET), i.e. taking into account that a person walking quickly enough to get attain a higher percentage of their maximum heartrate is doing the metabolic equivalent of walking for longer. Not even this could make walking more quickly compare positively to simply walking more.

Looking at data from 11,194 people participating in the Trøndelag Health Study, they found, category by category,

Walking volume: compared to people walking less than 78 minutes per day:

• 78–100 minutes daily: 13% lower risk
• 101–124 minutes daily: 23% lower risk
• 125+ minutes daily: 24% lower risk

Walking intensity: compared to people walking at less than 3.00 MET per minute (very easy pace):

• 3.00–3.11 MET/min: 15% lower risk
• 3.12–3.26 MET/min: 18% lower risk
• 3.27+ MET/min: 18% lower risk

Adjusted results: even when accounting for both volume and intensity together, walking volume remained strongly protective, while intensity mattered less

You can find the study itself, here: Volume and Intensity of Walking and Risk of Chronic Low Back Pain

You may be wondering: “I thought we were supposed to get 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week; who has time for 125+ minutes of walking per day?”

And the answer is: “moderate” exercise isn’t what’s being counted here, as (per the paper), what was counted was slow, moderate, or brisk walking. In other words, the “slow” counted too, and your accelerometer (i.e. the device measuring your walking habits) neither knows nor cares whether you were only walking around your house doing housework, it’ll add it to the total.

In summary: if you’d like to reduce your lower back pain risk by 24%, then not only should you get walking if you reasonably can, but also, when you do, it can be good to take your time strolling casually!

Want to learn more?

Some extra things you might want to bear in mind:

• How To Walk Away From Alzheimer’s
• Can “Light Activity” Really Help Against Osteoporosis?
• What Your Fitness Tracker Is Best & Worst At

Enjoy!