Suffering from chronic back pain? Nature may help you, shows study
If you are suffering from chronic back pain, a walk in the woods can help you better manage the condition, according to a study on Tuesday
Published on Jun 3, 2025
By IANS
- NEW DELHI — If you are suffering from chronic back pain, a walk in the woods
can help you better manage the condition, according to a study on Tuesday.
-
- The study, published in The Journal of Pain, showed that
being time in or around nature can provide people suffering from chronic lower
back pain with a degree of escapism that helps them better manage their
physical discomfort.
-
- In a first-of-its-kind experiment, researchers from the
University of Plymouth, UK, asked 10 people experiencing chronic lower back
pain, in some cases for almost 40 years, about the role nature plays in any
coping strategies they employ to help manage their condition.
-
- They found that people who were able to get out in nature
said it enabled them to connect with others on a social level, whereas they
might otherwise spend the majority of their time indoors and isolated.
-
- It also provided them with a degree of distraction from
their pain and a sense of escapism from their daily lives, and they enjoyed the
opportunity to exercise in pleasant surroundings, preferring it to gyms or
similar settings.
-
- In addition, natural features such as fresh air and the
sound and visual presence of water, the interviewees said, helped give them a
feeling of tranquillity that relieved the stresses and anxieties created by
their pain levels.
-
- “Lower back pain, like many other forms of physical
discomfort, can be debilitating, isolating, and exhausting. But amid a push for
novel and more holistic therapies to treat chronic pain, nature has been
suggested as a potential option,” said lead author Alexander Smith, a
researcher in the University’s School of Psychology.
-
- “Our research showed that those able to get out into
nature saw the benefits of doing so, both from a physical and a mental
perspective,” Smith added.
-
- Based on their findings, the researchers recommended that
people with chronic lower back pain -- and the clinicians treating them -- give
greater consideration to the role nature can play in their health and
wellbeing.
-
- "Simple changes, such as better paths and seating,
and technological innovations including virtual reality may help make those
benefits accessible to everyone. But we hope our findings open the door to
greater exploration of how that might be achieved," Smith said.
