FEELING GREAT: Can you still exercise despite niggling lower back pain?

Now, you don’t want to run the risk of aggravating it any more in case it turns into an injury.

Imagine waking up one day to find that you can no longer walk down the road, pop to the shops, or even take the grandchildren over the park to play on the swings because what you did, made it worse!

But, that’s rarely the case.

See, niggling lower back pain doesn’t mean you’ve got to keep yourself locked up indoors until it magically disappears.

If you suffer from back pain, gentle walking accompanied by exercises designed specifically to improve your back strength and movement, will make a significant difference.

Walking is a completely natural movement that strengthens your bones and muscles, including those in your feet, legs, hips and torso – helping to keep the back muscles that hold you up right nice and strong.

Stretching combined with walking will improve your back’s flexibility and posture, which in turn, can help prevent back pain creeping up on you when you least expect it.

What’s more, it can also reduce its severity. Walking also stimulates the release of endorphins (those feel-good hormones), helping you to feel energised all day, too.

Walking with lower back pain is completely safe. If you’ve suffered with lower back pain, you may find that certain type of activities hurt your back – especially high impact exercises such as jogging and is far less intense than many other forms of exercise, and therefore less likely to trigger that dreaded pain.

If you want tips for easing back pain, just go to www.paulgoughphysio.com/back-pain to pick up a free special report (worth £58) with 9 top tips to keep active with less back pain.

The NHS recommends adults should do some type of physical activity every day. The more you do the better.

Adults should: aim to be physically active every day.

Do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity a week