Exercise good method to relieve low back pain
Exercise good method to relieve low back pain
Study shows exercise bikes offer pain relief
People with chronic pain can peddle away some of their discomfort, according to a new study by a researcher at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Milwaukee.
Martin Hoffman, MD, professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, says he has found that people with chronic low back pain reduce their pain perception for up to 30 minutes after a moderate workout on an exercise bike. Hoffman presented his findings at the recent meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Indianapolis.
In Hoffman’s study, eight people who have suffered from chronic low back pain for an average of seven years, reported feeling significantly less pain on a standard measure of pain perception after riding an exercise bike for 25 minutes, compared with before.
The subjects reported their pain level on a subjective scale in response to having a weighted plastic edge placed on their nondominant index finger for two minutes. The participants indicated their pain level every 10 seconds by marking a 10-cm scale. The end points of the scale were "no pain" and "the worst possible pain imaginable." Hoffman did not specifically measure the subjects’ back pain because such pain is well known to be variable.
Hoffman says he isn’t certain what the basis of the reduction in pain perception is, but he is sure that it does involve the whole body.
No exercise bike? Try walking
"The exercise is done with the legs, and we found the pain alteration to affect the finger, so it’s pretty safe to say it’s a systemic effect," he says. "Therefore, we expect the site of any chronic pain to be affected to some degree as well. If people would exercise a little bit they would likely get some relief from their pain."
If someone with chronic pain doesn’t have an exercise bike, not to worry, Hoffman says.
"For the average person with chronic pain, the advice I would give is if they can walk, and they have a place to do that, that would be ideal," he says. " If they don’t live in an area where it’s safe to walk or they don’t like getting out in the cold or don’t have a shopping mall or a treadmill, one of the indoor exercise devices would be an alternative."
However, people with spinal nerve damage might not be able to use an exercise bike. They might find a recumbent bike or a stair-stepping machine more tolerable, Hoffman says. None of the participants in this study had such nerve damage.
Hoffman says a regular aerobic exercise program also would benefit people suffering from chronic back pain. Studies involving people with fibromyalgia have suggested that a regular exercise program may have some benefit, he says.
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