Exercise four days/week to ease back pain

People who have back pain and work out four days a weeks have better quality of life than those who hit the gym less often, Canadian researchers found.

University of Alberta researchers studied 240 men and women with chronic lower-back pain.

The study found those who worked with weights four days a week had 28 percent less pain, 36 percent less disability and 28 percent better quality of life than those who hit the gym only two or three days a week.

While it could be assumed that someone with back pain should not be exercising frequently, our findings show that working with weights four days a week provides the greatest amount of pain relief and quality of life, lead author Robert Kell said in a statement.

In the study, groups of 60 men and women with chronically sore lower backs each exercised with weights in two, three or four-day weekly programs, or not at all — over a 16-week period.

The level of pain decreased by 28 percent in programs that included exercise four days a week, by 18 percent three days a week and by 14 percent two days a week. The quality of life, defined as general physical and mental well-being, rose by 28 percent for those working out four days a week, 22 percent for those working out three days and 16 percent for two days.