Most of you will know I am a big fan of walking whether that is a quick lap of the car park after an adjustment to help set your adjustments in place, or a brisk walk in your lunch break, the benefits are amazing.
Walking has been shown to:
Increase cardiovascular and pulmonary (heart and lung) health.
Reduce risk of heart disease and stroke.
Improve hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol and diabetes.
Reduced body fat.
But what we really love in the clinic is getting rid of back pain and walking has been shown to really help with this.
Most of us lead sedentary lives which leads to muscles becoming weak and unconditioned, in particular the muscles of your trunk and your core stabilising muscles. When we spend just 30 minutes a day walking at a brisk pace, we can help reverse these changes, increasing blood flow to the muscles and increasing muscle strength.
Sitting all day also causes our core stabilising muscle to become stiff and restricted, walking has been shown to increase the muscle flexibility of your hamstrings, glutes, and erector spinae to name a few, so is great at keeping the normal alignment in your spine.
Walking also increases bone density, though loss of bone density may not be a direct cause of your pain and discomfort, keeping good bone density in our spines is important to help prevent compression fracture later in life.
So, with the gorgeous spring weather we are currently enjoying, let's all walk a little more.