Column A Back Pain Specialist Explains How to Reduce Strain on Your Lower Back with Adequate Walking Tips
September 18, 2026
Your walking pattern can sometimes be a contributing factor to lower back pain.
If you have poor walking habits, excessive strain may be placed on your lower back, potentially leading to chronic lower back pain.
In this article, we explain how your walking style affects your lower back and how to correct it.
How Poor Walking Affects Your Lower Back
Poor walking habits can disrupt the balance of the pelvis and spine, placing excessive stress on the muscles and joints around the lower back and potentially causing lower back pain.
Stomp walking
Wearing sandals, slippers, or shoes with the heels flattened at the back can make you more likely to walk with a flat-footed gait.
With this type of walking, the front of the foot or the ball of the foot may hit the ground forcefully enough to make a noticeable sound. As a result, the impact from the ground is transmitted directly to the lower back, placing significant stress on it.
The more you walk in this manner, the greater the strain placed on your lower back, which may also increase the risk of developing sudden acute lower back pain.
Rounded Back and Swayback
A rounded back (hunched posture) and swayback (excessive lower back arch) can also contribute to lower back pain.
The longer a hunched posture continues, the weaker muscles such as the erector spinae become, and excessive strain is placed on the spine. As a result, low back pain develops.
With an excessively arched lower back, the natural S-shaped curve of the spine is lost, increasing the load on the lower back and hip joints and leading to low back pain.
Bowlegged (Toe-Out) Walk
Walking with the feet turned outward means that the toes and knees point outward while walking, causing the legs to open outward. This walking pattern can also contribute to lower back pain.
When you walk this way, force is applied to the outside of the body, so you sway widely from side to side with each step. With the lower body unstable, the upper body leans forward to try to gain stability, which strains the lower back and back and leads to low back pain.
The Correct Way to Walk
The right way to walk to prevent low back pain is to keep your ears and shoulders vertically aligned, land on your heel, and push off firmly with the big toe of your rear foot.
Key Points for Correct Walking
First, be aware of your posture. When viewed from the side, make sure your ears and shoulders form a straight line, and stretch your back as if the top of your head were being pulled upward. Be also careful not to overarch your lower back.
When your foot touches the ground, land on the heel first, roll through the whole sole, and finally push off firmly from the ground with the big toe of the rear foot.
Try walking with slightly longer strides than usual. Keep your elbows gently bent and swing your arms naturally with a slightly larger movement as you walk.
Treatment at Our Clinics
If you suffer from low back pain, the cause may not be simply down to the way you walk; spinal conditions such as disc herniation may also be involved.
Our clinic is specialized in the treatments of low back pain caused by intervertebral disc damage.
The Cellgel Method involves injecting a therapeutic agent into the cracks in the intervertebral disc. The substance then forms a gel-like implant that fills and reinforces the damaged areas. This may help prevent further disc degeneration and may serve as a fundamental treatment approach that addresses the underlying disc damage
Unlike procedures that reduce the volume of the intervertebral disc, the Cellgel Method leaves a gel-like implant within the disc after treatment, helping preserve the disc’s volume and structure.
Click here to learn more about the Cellgel Method
In addition, our affiliated OJ Wellness Center incorporates approaches from traditional East Asian medicine and Ayurvedic medicine to support people experiencing various forms of lower back pain across a wide range of age groups.
Click here to learn more about the OJ Wellness Center
If you are experiencing lower back pain, please consider scheduling a consultation at our clinic.
Supervising Physician
Dr. Tadaaki MINOWA
Administrative Director at ILC Tokyo
Affiliations / Certifications
Japan Low Back Pain Association
Japan Society of Endoscopic Surgery
Certified Industrial Physician, Japan Medical Association
Cellgel Treatment Method Certified Doctor
Florence Method Certified Doctor
Q-Florence Method Certified Doctor
Ozone Treatment Certified Doctor
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