Back Hurt When You Walk?

Don’t Give Up on Walking

Strength training should be your primary focus for staying strong, mobile, and pain-free. đŸ’Ș

But walking is an excellent secondary exercise with so many benefits:

Easy to Start: No gym needed—just step outside and go.

Great for Stress Relief: Walking activates your parasympathetic nervous system, helping you relax.

Improves Blood Sugar: Especially when done after meals.

Adds Extra Movement: Counteracts long periods of sitting.

I love walking!

However, many women experience back pain during walks, which can feel discouraging.

But don’t let it stop you!

With a few simple adjustments, you can relieve the pain and keep enjoying all the benefits of walking.

JUST ONE THING

Raise your hand if your low back gets stiff and achy when going for a brisk walk?

Your JUST ONE THING for pain-free walking:

Improve the Strength & Mobility of Your Hips

Here’s why back pain might be happening when you walk:

Weak glutes and tight hip flexors force your lower back to overcompensate by arching to pull your leg back further.

Over time, your lumbar muscles and joints get fatigued, and this can lead to discomfort or pain in your low back.

The solution to this common problem is three-fold.

3 Tips for Pain-Free Walking

  1. Shorten your stride length in the short term so that your back can stop arching with every step.
  2. Strengthen your glutes (on the back) for a better push off with each step.
  3. Lengthen/stretch out your hip flexors (on the front) so your leg can extend behind you more easily.

‍

‍

‍

Extra Tip:

If your back and hips start hurting WHILE you’re walking, here are some great stretches that can relieve that pain.

Did You Know...

  • Bridges are a great exercise for strengthening your glutes. But what if you also get back pain when doing glute bridges? Here are some great tips to eliminate back pain when doing bridges.
  • Your hip flexors need to be long AND strong to function properly. If they’re too long without strength, you’ll have issues. If they’re too strong without length, you’ll also have issues. Your hamstrings are like this, too.
  • If you enjoy long walks, but you always get pain when you reach a certain distance (like at 3 miles), there’s no reason to stop walking all together! Simply make your walks shorter (only 2.5 miles) so that you finish before you reach that “point of pain”.

‍

Until next week... Be strong

‍

Past newsletters

Browse All