Walking ‘can cure chronic back pain’

The cure to chronic back pain can be as easy as putting one foot in front of the other, according to Ireland’s top physio.

Internationally-renowned sports injury specialist Gerard Hartmann says just 40 minutes of brisk walking, five days a week, is all it takes to beat the debilitating condition that affects up to 70% of Irish adults.

Back pain and other musculo-skeletal disorders are the cause of 50% of sick days take annually in Ireland.

Sufferers spend fortunes seeking a cure when, in many cases, a weekly walking programme will do the trick, says Hartmann, a Limerick-based physical therapist who heals the world’s elite athletes. Hartmann — whose clients include runners Sonia O’Sullivan and Cathy Freeman — says: “When we feel pain, the instinct is to rest, but with back pain, it’s movement that works...

Good, brisk walking, performed well and often, with good posture and suitable footwear, is very effective in healing back pain and its causes. Even three or four times a week of walking for a half an hour up to an hour will reduce back pain up by 50%.”

It reduces pain through “the gate control theory”, which says the brain cannot take pain messages from smaller muscles while busy with bigger muscles.

However, there are contra-indications: If people have shooting pains down their leg or numbness, or cannot physically walk with the pain, then they need to see their doctor before attempting any activity. It could be a ruptured disc putting pressure on a nerve, or something more serious.

Hartmann has treated 61 Olympic medal winners and 47 world champions. Now 53, he quit sport after he fractured his hip in a freak cycling accident. He moved his clinic from Florida to Limerick in 1996.