Death and taxes are said to be the two certainties in life for adults, but Ben Franklin may have added low back pain given its’ current prevalence. Up to 90% of adults will report an episode of low back pain during their lifetimes. Fortunately, the vast majority of these episodes are not secondary to any serious pathology in the spine and respond well to low cost, conservative treatments including Physical Therapy interventions such as manual therapy and exercise interventions. In particular, strength training is one of the most effective treatment options to get you back to 100% after these acute low back pain episodes. To paraphrase again from Franklin, if you had an ounce of prevention new research reports it would be composed of exercise.
Researchers in the American Journal of Epidemiology conducted a review of the available evidence on the prevention of low back pain (Shiri et al. 2018). Authors reviewed 13 randomized controlled trials and 3 non randomized controlled trials for the analysis. They reported exercise alone reduced a person’s risk of developing low back pain by 33%. In addition, the severity and disability of the patient’s low back was also less in the active group compared to their sedentary peers. Authors recommended combining aerobic or stretching exercise with strength training, 2-3 days per week, for reducing a person’s risk of development of low back pain.