Back Pain Support Group

Some of you folks may know this and some of you may not, I'm just going to post something I've learnt about backs in the hope it may help others in here.

Regular walking from 30 mins a day is very beneficial for the discs in your back.

But the 30 mins needs to be non stop for at least 15 mins - no pauses to look in a shop window or smell flowers.

The reason is the discs in your back are supplied nutrients through a series of small blood vessels which do not work through normal circulation (heart) methods. These blood vessels are in very awkward spots where there is very little room. The way the vessels work is they require walking for at least 15 minutes non stop to cycle some of the bad nutrients away from the disc and replace it with fresh nutrients from your blood stream. If a pause is made during walking before the 15 minutes are up it will take another 15 minutes before the flow of nutrients is sufficent for it to be beneficial to the discs in your back.

The fact that lifestyles in the western world are more sedentary (sitting all the time) and that people may not walk consistently for 30 mins a day compared to when we were hunter gatherers compounds the problem. No wonder so many people have disc problems these days.

To give your discs a break try and walk for 30mins minimum at least twice a week - once a day is even better. Dont take the dog though or go to the shopping mall because it has to be 30min UNINTERRUPTED walking to get everything pumping through nicely.

Hope you found this interesting :)

I have a prolasped L4/L5 and a bulging L5/S1. Walking has definately helped me a great deal - I actually notice my back feeling better after I do a 30 min nonstop walk. Its almost like its saying thank you. After my injury I didnt have surgery and it took me some time to get to the point where I could stand for 15 mins let alone walk for 15 mins. When I was really bad I used to walk in the hydrotherapy pool. Being in the pool meant I weighed 50% less and was in 50% less pain. So if you are having trouble getting started I highly recommend starting your exercise program in a hydrotherapy situation. Talk to your local hospital and ask if they have pt's (physical trainers or physiotherapists) who work in a pool. Hope this post helps :)