A physical therapist recommends walking to help with chronic pain—here’s why

Living with chronic pain can make the idea of exercise feel overwhelming—especially if you are worried about triggering more pain. But avoiding exercise altogether may mean you miss out on some surprising benefits. For instance, walking could actually ease chronic pain symptoms in some cases.

I live with chronic pain and an energy-limiting illness, so I understand why not moving feels like the safest approach. Evem though walking is one of my favorite activities, when I’m experiencing a flare-up of symptoms, I often think I might as well not walk at all if I can’t walk 10,000 steps.

I spoke with Dr. Christynne Helfrich, a doctor of physical therapy at Hinge Health, who says this attitude is common but can be a stumbling block for people with chronic pain trying to improve their symptoms.

“People with chronic pain who are fearful of those flare-ups often get stuck in a cycle of not moving, leading to weakness and stiffness,” says Helfrich. “Then, when they try to move, it's going to be painful, because their body is now deconditioned and they're more likely to get injured,” she says.

How does walking help?

Helfrich explains that walking is accessible to most people, you don’t need any expensive equipment, and even short walks can counteract the effects of a sedentary lifestyle.

“Walking releases endorphins,” says Helfrich. “A lot of people with chronic pain rely on different medications that may or may not work, but walking is a relatively easy way to use your body's own built-in pharmacy.”

Helfrich says the standard recommendation of 30 minutes of exercise per day can be out of reach for those living with chronic pain. Instead, she encourages people to walk for five minutes at a time—or even less if their exercise tolerance is low.

“If you stay sedentary, your tolerance continues to dwindle, and it can be a vicious cycle,” says Helfrich.

How to approach walking with chronic pain

“I encourage people to do nuggets of movement where they can,” says Helfrich.

This bite-sized approach to movement can help people with chronic pain build up to longer times or distances with less risk of triggering a flare-up of symptoms.

“Walking is a functional and easy exercise to progress,” says Helfrich. “Start by walking to the mailbox and back at a slow pace. You can add steps or increase your pace in a way that feels good and doesn’t cause you pain.”

If 10 minutes of walking triggers pain, Helfrich recommends scaling back to a point where it doesn’t. From this new baseline, you can gradually build up your tolerance to walk for longer and increase your threshold.

“Your body starts to learn that movement is safe,” she says. “Bouts as short as 10 minutes or even five minutes accrue over time and can have similar health benefits to walking for 30 minutes in one go.”

“Breaking your movement down into small nuggets, sprinkled throughout the day, will encourage blood flow and better mobility,” she adds. “When you sit for an hour, even though you may have already exercised earlier in the day, you're still going to have pain in your back from lack of movement.”

Joints are self-lubricating so even if the first few movements feel stiff and uncomfortable, once you start moving, joints will loosen up.

Chronic pain conditions often coexist with mental health conditions like anxiety and depression.

“If you're depressed because you have chronic pain and then someone tells you you need to walk, it can be really hard,” she says. But walking for five minutes? That might be a more manageable goal.

She also advises not to worry too much about your pace. Focus on engaging with your surroundings and spending time walking mindfully.

“I always encourage people to walk outside if they can—being outside in nature has its own therapeutic benefits,” she adds.

Helfrich is also a great believer in adding goals to a walk to make them more motivating.

“When you can reach a goal and feel a sense of success, it’s a big motivator,” she says. “For people with chronic pain, seeing that they can slowly make progress is really helpful.”

These goals don’t have to be step-based, either. “If you can’t walk all the way to the store when you first start, that could be a nice tangible goal instead of a step-based one,” she adds.