Sticking to the Plan to reduce Back Pain
There is no shortage of back pain exercise advice, from Pilates to Yoga, strength training and Ti Chi, there are many more options. The challenge for most people is adhering to an exercise plan for long enough to see the results.
As any rehab professional will know, most people don’t do their exercises and the more exercises you give people the less they are likely to do. Give them one and they do one. Give them six and they will likely do none! – Doesn’t make sense but it’s usually what happens.
For most people their back pain treatment needs to be as simple as possible. The absence of simplicity will likely result in a lack of commitment which could be akin to doing nothing at all.
Recent research in the Annals of Internal Medicine reminds us of the health benefits of a daily walk. One longer daily walk is superior to a series of shorter walks (del Pozo Cruz et al 2025).
This reminds me of the growing body of research that compares walking and more specific back pain exercises for managing chronic lower back pain. In their review of the research Vanti et al (2019) note that walking provides the same benefits as more specific rehabilitation exercises but does not provide additional benefits when both are combined.
Simply ‘prescribing’ a daily 15-minute walk would be an evidence-based way of managing lower back pain.
Despite this, many patients may still find pain and discomfort a deterrent to a daily walk. Opting for more passive interventions like, heat, medication and rest.
Here I would not hesitate to trial a simple taping application to the lower back. This simple evidence informed intervention can make the initiation of movement and a walk much more comfortable leading to more enjoyment and adherence.
Abbasi et al (2020) reported 3 days of back pain relief following kinesiology taping in individuals with nonspecific chronic low back pain. Their study featured two groups that both received 3 days of taping. One group had the tape applied with tape stretch and one group had the tape applied without tape stretch. Interestingly the tape stretch group reported more pain relief. We will discuss the interesting link between tape stretch and pain relief in a future blog.
Conclusion: Some RockTape on the lower back and a daily walk is evidence based and should help the majority of low back pain sufferers.
Video: How to RockTape for Low Back Pain
Try it and let us know on our social media
References:
Abbasi, S., Hadian Rasanani, M-R., Ghotbi, N., Olyaei, G.R., Bozorgmehr, A. and Rasouli, O., 2020. Short-term effect of kinesiology taping on pain, functional disability and lumbar proprioception in individuals with nonspecific chronic low back pain: a double-blinded, randomized trial. Chiropractic & Manual Therapies, 28(63).
del Pozo Cruz, B., Ahmadi, M., Sabag, A., Saint Maurice, P.F., Lee, I-M. & Stamatakis, E., 2025. Step Accumulation Patterns and Risk for Cardiovascular Events and Mortality Among Suboptimally Active Adults. Annals of Internal Medicine, published 28 October.
Vanti, C., Andreatta, S., Borghi, S., Guccione, A.A., Pillastrini, P. and Bertozzi, L., 2019. The effectiveness of walking versus exercise on pain and function in chronic low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials. Disability and Rehabilitation, 41(6), pp.622–632..