Greensboro's African American Community Newspaper since 1967
One of the joys of my life right now is getting out in the sun and taking my dog for a walk. She thoroughly enjoys it. Getting out in the sun, walking in the fresh air, and communicating with nature are good for her and for me. Socially I get to meet up with my neighbors, see what is going on and get the latest community gossip. My dog gets to see and sniff with her friends. She checks out the neighborhood territory and is satisfied that all is well.
Since walking is readily available to most people, it has been prescribed by many healthcare providers as a first, inexpensive, great exercise. It helps as a stress reducer, an easy aid in becoming fit and a means of communicating with nature. It helps with the immune system, helps with metabolism, and can lower glucose in people with diabetes, which is good for the heart. Walking also helps with mental health and elevates the mood of those participating.
Walking has been one of the first exercises that is recommended for people experiencing low back pain.
The usual plan has been to recommend a program that begins with meeting the participant where they are and gradually increasing their walking to 130 minutes per week. The results have been positive for most people, and they discover that they’ve had few bouts of that disabling pain. And if the pain did come back, there was a longer interval between the bouts.
Did I mention that walking is also very cost effective?
However, walking can place strain on the ankle-foot -knee-hip axis area. Taking this into consideration is a must. If a person has physical conditions such as spinal stenosis, a worsening of the pain of the foot-ankle-knee-hip axis, is morbid obesity or has one leg is shorter than the other, then a stationary bicycle may be the exercise of choice for that low back pain.
If a person has physical conditions such as low pain tolerance, marked obesity, instability of the ankle-foot-knee-hip axis, and he or she needs a painless method of aerobic exercise, swimming may be the exercise of choice to prevent low back pain.
It is important to begin slowly and see how you respond to the exercise in the next 24 to 48 hours and then progress to 130 minutes of exercise each week. As always, speak with your healthcare provider and ask for their guidance and advice.
Hopefully, we can all get out and enjoy the healing rays of the sun, nature and save our backs too.
Dr. Veita Bland is a board-certified Greensboro physician and hypertension specialist. Dr. Bland’s radio show, “It’s a Matter of Your Health,” can be heard live on Wednesdays, 5:30 p.m. on N.C. A&T State University’s WNAA, 90.1 FM. Listeners may call in and ask questions. The show is replayed on Sirius 142 at 5 p.m. on Wed. Email Dr. Bland at ideas@blandclinicpa.com.
