Walking targets a sore core

Walking may ease chronic low-back pain just as well as physical therapy, new research shows. During the study, patients worked up to walking on a treadmill for 40 minutes at moderate-intensity twice a week. After six weeks, they had significantly less low-back pain and stronger abdominal and back muscles than when they started—results that were comparable with a group who’d spent that time doing muscle-strengthening PT. Walking affects back and abdominal muscles in much the same way that targeted strengthening exercises do, researchers say.