For anyone who has every felt paralyzed with chronic low back pain, it won’t be surprising that back pain is the leading cause of disability: What may be surprising is the best way to treat it.
For anyone who has ever felt paralyzed with chronic low back pain, it won’t be surprising that back pain is the leading cause of disability: What may be surprising is the best way to treat it.
“We used to think if you had low back pain, you should be on bed rest and try not to move — try not to flare up the pain,” said Dr. Jennifer Gourdin, a sports medicine physician with Kaiser Permanente, in Silver Spring, Maryland.
“Now we know that movement is key to prevention, as well as treatment.”
Research shows that staying active with targeted exercises like walking, stretching and core strengthening can help reduce chronic lower back pain, while prolonged sitting and inactivity may make symptoms worse.
The National Institutes of Health said chronic lower back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and affects over one-third of older adults in the United States.
“Many of us will experience chronic low back pain at some point in our life,” Gourdin said. “It’s one of the most common reasons that you will go to see your primary care physician.”
According to NIH, chronic pain is persistent: 61.4% of those with chronic pain in 2019 still had it in 2020.
An April 2025 study published in the Journal of Orthopedic & Sports Physical Therapy found that for people with chronic low back pain, fear that pain will exacerbate their condition is a primary reason many stay sedentary.
Gourdin said the key is to move daily: “It can be light activity, walking, riding a stationary bike, swimming, or water aerobics — any kind of movement that you can incorporate into your day to day activities will help to improve low back pain.”
Daily movement can help improve a patient’s symptoms, ranging from stiffness to pain associated with arthritis.
“There was a recent study in the Lancet Rheumatology that looked at people with chronic low back pain, and if they were walking regularly they were actually found to have less recurrence of their symptoms and less disability,” Gourdin said.
For people with desk jobs or those who sit for prolonged periods of time, Gourdin recommends standing up every 30 minutes to stretch and move in order to reduce the risk of developing or worsening low back pain. “Doing exercises to strengthen the core, like glute bridges or side planks can also help to manage back pain.”
If a patient experiences a persistent pain — sharp, dull, achy or radiating — for several days, Gourdin said that should be reported to a doctor. She said problems with controlling your bowels or bladder, and feelings of numbness, weakness or tingling radiating down your legs are red flags that should be evaluated promptly by a physician.
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