A new study confirms that rocker bottom shoes help strengthen back muscles, improving the spine’s curvature and thus reducing low back pain.

Researchers in sports physiotherapy have confirmed, in a new study of their research work into back pain, that unstable shoes improve the strength of back muscles by forcing them to maintain balance and stability when walking. This muscular strengthening contributes to reducing low-intensity chronic low back pain, which can be disabling for those who suffer it.

Patients with chronic low back pain are usually advised to perform exercises to strengthen the muscles in their back, which improve stability of the spine in the lower back area, although it is always hard to make sure they comply with this type of exercise.

Forty patients with low-intensity chronic low back pain took part in the study. Half of them wore this type of shoes with curved soles for four weeks, and the other half used their normal shoes. What this new study shows is that the use of unstable shoes for several hours during a patient’s day-to-day life, without any other specific exercises, effectively contributes to the muscular strengthening of their back and improves the degree of curvature of the spine in the lumbar area, thus helping to reduce chronic pain.

Not likely to wear shoes with curved soles? Another solution: hands-on care by a chiropractor—an expert in diagnosing and relieving lower back pain.

Presented as a service to the community by: Union County Chiropractic Clinic, 110 Skyline Drive, Maynardville, TN (865) 992-7000 www.unioncountychiropractic.com.