Back pain can be eased with walking – but there’s a specific number of minutes to reach per day

Hitting 10,000 steps a day is a goal for millions of us. But the number of minutes we walk for may be a more important target to focus on. 

Scientists believe being on your feet for over an hour-and-a-half every day could slash the risk of chronic lower back pain. 

Norwegian and Danish researchers found people who walk for over 100 minutes a day cut this risk by almost a quarter compared to those who clocked 78 minutes per day or less.

They also discovered faster walkers were less likely to have chronic back pain—but the effect was less pronounced than walking for longer.

Experts, who labelled the findings important, urged policy makers to push walking as a ‘public health strategy’ to reduce the risk of the agonising condition. 

In many cases, lower back pain starts suddenly and improves within a few days or weeks.

But if it sticks around for more than three months, it’s classed as chronic, according to the NHS. In some cases, it can be considered a disability.

In the study, 11,194 Norwegians, with an average age of 55, were quizzed on their health and how much exercise they did per week. 

Almost a sixth (14.8 per cent) reported suffering from lower back pain, answering ‘yes’ to the following questions, ‘During the last year, have you had pain and/or stiffness in your muscles or joints that lasted for at least three consecutive months? and ‘Where have you had this pain or stiffness?’ 

Participants were considered to have the condition if they answered yes to the first question and reported pain in the lower back to the second.

Both men and women were involved in the study, and 100 minutes was found to be the optimum length of time for both sexes, and all ages.

Writing in the journal JAMA Network Open, the researchers concluded: ‘Compared with walking less than 78 minutes per day, those who walked more than 100 minutes per day had a 23 per cent reduced risk of chronic lower back pain. 

‘The reduction in risk of chronic lower back pain leveled off beyond a walking volume of about 100 minutes per day.

‘Our findings suggest that daily walking volume is more important than mean walking intensity in reducing the risk of chronic lower back pain.

‘These findings suggest that policies and public health strategies promoting walking could help to reduce the occurrence of chronic lower back pain.’

The researchers also noted that their results are ‘likely generalisable beyond the Norwegian adult population, as physical inactivity prevalence in Norway is comparable to that observed in other high-income countries’.

They did note some limitations of the study, including that participants with higher walking volume tended to exercise more often and reported higher physical work demands, which might give them a physical advantage over other members of the group.

In the UK, musculoskeletal conditions (MSK)—including back pain—are the second biggest reason for people being ‘economically inactive’—where someone is out of work and not looking for work.

Figures released by the Government in December 2024 revealed that MSK conditions affect approximately 646,000 Britons, 1-in-4 of the 2.8m who are claiming long-term sickness benefits.

MSK comes second only to mental health issues for reasons why people are unable to work.

It was estimated that 23.4 million working days in the UK were lost due to MSK conditions in 2022.

NHS waiting lists for MSK community services are the highest of all community waits in England, with 348,799 people in September 2024 waiting to see a specialist.

As part of their Get Britain Working White Paper, the Government pledged a £3.5million package to 17 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) across England to improve local MSK services.