Lower Back Pain When I Walk
Treatment – Sciatica symptoms typically resolve within 4-6 weeks without intervention. Practicing proper posture, stretching, and regular light exercise can reduce symptoms. If lifestyle changes do not resolve symptoms, doctors may prescribe NSAIDS, muscle relaxants, and OTC painkillers.
- In severe cases, corticosteroid injections, spinal manipulation, and surgery may be necessary.
- Lower back pain, when standing or walking, is not always a cause for concern and may get better with home treatment, such as rest, OTC pain relievers, hot and cold therapy, and gentle stretching.
- A person should see their doctor if the pain is severe, does not get better, or occurs along with other concerning or debilitating symptoms.
People with lower back pain should seek immediate medical attention if they experience loss of bowel or bladder control or if it affects leg movement. Some tips to help prevent lower back pain include:
Exercising for at least 30 minutes on most days of the week. Where possible, try doing a mixture of low- and high intensity physical activities exercises, such as bike riding, walking, aerobics classes, swimming, or using an elliptical machine.Practicing good posture when walking, such as by keeping the back straight and avoiding leaning too far forward or slumping.Making appropriate adjustments to workstations to improve ergonomics. Examples include placing the computer screen at eye level and using a supportive and properly-adjusted chair.Using proper lifting techniques, including holding an object as close as possible to the body, maintaining a wide stance, bending from the legs and not the back, and avoiding lifting objects that are too heavy.Eating a healthful, balanced diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins.
People with specific questions or concerns about keeping their backs healthy and free from pain should talk with their doctor. Lower back pain, when standing or walking, is often a symptom of muscle fatigue or poor posture. People can usually treat this pain at home with rest, OTC pain relievers, hot or cold therapy, and gentle stretching.
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Why does my lower back hurt when I walk?
Lower Back Pain When Walking or Running As Physiotherapists a regular complaint by patients is the experience of increasing lower back pain when walking or running. There is a common misconception that because we are undertaking exercises this should not lead to pain, it should be helpful shouldn’t it? To find out the answers to these questions and more keep reading below.
- Why do some people experience lower back pain when walking or running? The most common reason that lower back pain is felt when walking or running is due to positioning of your pelvis and your lower lumbar vertebrae during these activities.
- Your lumbar vertebral column has a natural curve in it called a lumbar lordosis.
This is what gives your lower back its arched posture. If you stand side on to a mirror you can view your natural spinal curves. Your neck also has a small arch, whilst your middle back is curved outwards, in the opposite direction. A pelvis that is controlled well with balanced and activated muscles firing, through dynamic movements such as walking, running, lifting, or even standing and reaching will maintain its natural curved state. Once any of your muscles that control these movements stop firing as well as they should or switch off altogether, you will develop what we call a muscle imbalance.
- Muscles usually work in pairs that are opposites, when one is contracting the synergist or paired muscle will lengthen and vice versa.
- If a muscle imbalance dynamic is occurring this will create altered forces within the muscles, forcing one muscle to stay contracted and overworked, whilst it’s paired muscle or synergist remains lengthened and switched off.
The imbalanced muscle pairing dynamic creates an altered pull on your pelvis and vertebra leading to overarched lumbar spine. We call this excessive or hyper lordosis. The pain you feel is from your muscles in your lower back being switched on most of the time.
- They are overworked and get tired and cranky just like us after a long work day! All muscles need a break and can’t stay contracted all of the time.
- Try and make a fist and hold it for 2 minutes, It’s really hard to keep that up isn’t it? But that is essentially what you are asking your back muscles to do for the entire time your are upright, standing, moving, lifting, exercising, walking or running.
We just aren’t designed to do that and that is why our body is sending you an alarm signal by giving you lower back pain. The good news about all of this is that your lower back pain during or after walking and running can be fixed by addressing the muscle imbalance issues that exist if you have hyper lordosis in your lumbar spine. Now the big question is why are some of your muscles overworking and others underworking? How does this occur? There are a number of possibilities as to why this may be the case.
Previous injury Pregnancy Prolonged Sitting Lack of Flexibility of Spine Lack of Flexibility of Muscles Lack of Endurance Capacity of Postural Muscles General Lack of Physical Fitness Anatomical Shape Your Pelvis, Shoulders, Spine & Hips
Apart from the shape of your pelvis, or other bony anatomical structures, we can retrain our muscles by targeting specific exercises to address each of the above issues. As Physiotherapists our job is to firstly assess and diagnose the cause of your lower back pain and secondly determine which treatments will be best suited to address each of the issues.
- Thirdly hands on treatments, soft tissue release, joint mobilisation and dry needling might be implemented to address your pain and to create some length to your overworked shortened muscles.
- Stretching exercises may be required to assist in this process.
- Then we move to learning to strengthen and increase the endurance capacity in your postural muscles.
The goal being to create longer term changes that correct the hyper lordosis in your lumbar spine and ensure you create good dynamic postural control (this means movement with control rather that static control which is of limited use during exercises such as running and walking). The team at City Physiotherapy is here to help you every step of the way. Don’t put up with back pain and stop your lower back pain from limiting your enjoyment of walking and running.
Does walking help lower back pain or make it worse?
Walking is relatively easy to do and one of the most overlooked ways that you can help relieve and prevent future flareups of lower back pain. Two specific and direct benefits of adding a regular walking routine to your lower back treatment program are highlighted below. Walking with proper technique can help lessen sciatica and lower back pain. Watch Now
How long does lower back pain take to recover?
What’s the average recovery time for low back pain? – There are two types of lower back pain: acute and chronic back pain. Acute lower back pain lasts a few days to a few weeks, and it tends to resolve itself within a few days with proper self-care. In some cases, it may take up to a few months for the symptoms to disappear completely.
The nature of the injury Cause of the pain The extent of the injury Type of treatment used for the injury The activities a patient is involved in
Why does my back hurt more when I walk?
Lower back hurts when walking or standing – Your lower back provides support and stability to your body when you’re in an upright position. Each vertebra is separated by a jelly-filled disc that serves as a cushion. These discs can become inflamed when standing for long periods of time.
