Biggest Back Pain Mistake

Biggest Back Pain Mistake

As a lower back pain specialist who has worked with thousands of people suffering with lower back pain, and having experienced over a year of lower back pain myself and every possible intervention known to man, I know for a fact that the number one mistake back pain suffers make is not looking for the root cause of back pain. 

5 Reasons Your Lower Back Hurts When You Walk

In this post, I'm going share with you the 5 most common root causes that make walking so hard and your lower back so painful.  

• Poor Hip Mobility. With every step we take our hip and pelvis move in three planes of motion.  If we have any lack of motion in our hip, it will cause the spine to move more than it is designed to move.  Overtime this increased motion can begin to create inflammation and compression of the nerves that exit the spine in the lower back.  This leads to sciatica and lower back pain.

• Limited Foot and Ankle Mobility. Every time our foot hits the ground when we are walking 2-3 times our body weight in force is created. The body needs to absorb this force, which ends up traveling up into the spine. If the foot is stiff and does not flatten when we walk like it is designed to do, it will increase the amount of force that is transmitted into the spine.  This causes increased compression and can irritate the joints and nerves in the spine. 
• Decreased Hip Strength. It is very common to see people walking with a slight lead to one side when the foot lands on the ground.  This is an indicator that the lateral part of the hip is weak (gluteus medius).  When this happens, the body compensates by leaning to that side.  When the body leans to that side is causes compression of the nerves on the same side of the spine.
• Stiff Upper Back. With every step we take we also have an arm swing in the opposite direction. This arm swing causes our upper back to rotate.  If we have limited upper back rotation, it will cause increased rotation in the lower back.  This increased rotation can lead to increased compression and irritation to the joints and nerves in the spine.
• Stenosis in the spine. Research indicates that if you are over 55 years old, have pain in your lower back with walking or standing and it goes away when you sit, there is a good chance you have stenosis (narrowing of the spaces in your spine). This stenosis predisposes you to have pain when walking.  But if you fix all of the issues above, then the spaces open up, and you can walk without pain even when you have stenosis in the spine.  Don’t let it be an excuse.  Just know it is one of the 5 reasons why your back may hurt when you walk. Learn more about Stenosis here: Stenosis Therapy | Superior Physical Therapy (thesuperiortherapy.com)

If you would like to learn more about Lower Back Pain and Sciatica and strategies to reduce pain and allow for pain free walking you should consider attending our next FREE Low Back Pain and Sciatica workshop. Click back-class.com to learn more. Or call 231.421.9300 to register today!

We also have a free book, The Truth about Low Back Pain, that contains my back pain story and also info and tips on how to relieve your back pain. Get your free copy here: https://www.lowbackpainsucks.com/