Some help for low back pain

I came across a research article suggesting people with low back pain fared better with Nordic walking than with instruction about remaining generally active.

One limitation of the article: the researchers said the results showed those doing Nordic walking felt better but that the results weren't statistically significant. That is, the data wasn't strong enough to show the improvement could be attributed to something other than chance.

Does that mean Nordic walking isn't worth doing? More likely, some participants will tell their friends Nordic walking worked. Here are a couple of articles where the connection between Nordic walking and low back pain appeared to be statistically significant:

• "Nordic walking was used to rehabilitate a 48 year Woman who suffered from back and leg pain."
• "Chronic low back pain, a complaint often received from elderly women, was reduced by pole-induced power walking."

Research into the benefits of Nordic walking continues, something doctoral candidates might look into if they're looking for dissertation topics.

Amazing benefits of Nordic walking

Take a look at this list of benefits cataloged in a research article about Nordic walking and lower back pain:

• "…sciatica decreased"
• "…low back, hand, and leg pain were alleviated"
• …increased oxygen consumption, heart rate, and calorie expenditure"
• "…increasing stability and reducing loading"
• "…improved muscle strength and body balance"
• "…with chronic degenerative knee arthritis…pain reduced significantly"
• "…reduced pain and disability in patients with knee osteoarthritis"

Much of this comes from Nordic walking being full body and using more muscles.

Nordic walking and your back

A research article about the effect of Nordic walking for elderly women with low back pain yielded some positive results. The goal was to see if Nordic walking could "low back pain and change the spine shape in elderly women."

Points:

• "…low back pain decreased because the upper extremities were used together with the lower extremities during the exercises performed using the Nordic poles."
• "…strengthened the paraspinal muscles and enabled the participants to maintain a steady position for a long period, because the abdominal muscles, pelvic muscles, and sensory nervous system were used together."
• "…the effect of pain reduction in the muscle from the enhancements and the reduction of the weight load reduces the pain as a result of the normalization of the spine."

The overall effect was to reduce pain and make the back more stable. This is encouraging for people who might have posture problems. To encourage erect posture, look forward at some point in the distance, not at the ground all the time.