Lower Back Pain When Walking Colorado Trails (And What PT Can Do About It)

There’s something uniquely rewarding about hiking in Colorado: endless blue skies, challenging terrain, and breathtaking summit views. But, if you’ve ever finished a hike only to be greeted by nagging lower back pain when walking, you’re not alone.

At Rise Rehab and Sport Performance, we often work with hikers who experience pain in their lumbar spine after a day on the trail.

The good news? You don’t have to avoid the mountains you love. In this blog, we’ll explore the underlying causes of lower back pain, explain how it connects to movement patterns, and show how a physical therapist can help you heal, strengthen, and return to physical activity with less discomfort.

Understanding Your Lumbar Spine: A Quick Primer

The lumbar spine is the base of your back, a hardworking structure that links your upper body to your legs. It includes:

• Vertebrae (L1–L5)

• Intervertebral discs that cushion and absorb shock

• Facet joints that guide motion

• Ligaments, fascia, and muscles (like the multifidus and erector spinae)

• The spinal cord and nearby nerves, including the sciatic nerve

During hiking, this region supports weight, adjusts to changing terrain, and manages rotational and impact movements. That’s a lot to ask — especially if the rest of your system isn’t doing its part.

Common Causes of Lower Back Pain When Walking

1- Poor Core Control and Fatigue

Your abdominal muscles are part of a core system designed to support your spine. When these muscles weaken or fatigue, your back takes on extra strain. This can lead to inflammation, facet joint irritation, and excessive compression. Over time, you may experience pain during walking, especially on steep or uneven trails.

We see this often in hikers lacking eccentric strength, the ability to control downward movements, leading to excessive arching and bracing. This not only stresses the lower back, but can also cause referred leg pain, tingling, or even numbness in severe cases.

2- Hip and Ankle Mobility Restrictions

Limited motion in the hip or ankle joints often forces the spine to compensate. For example:

• Tight hip flexors pull the pelvis forward, exaggerating lumbar spine curvature

• Restricted ankle dorsiflexion leads to stiff gait and reduced blood flow

• These changes create excess demand on spinal muscles and tissues

You might notice a subtle shooting pain or stiffness after hiking for long periods or carrying weight, both signs your mobility is off.

3- Weak Posterior Chain Muscles

When your glutes and hamstrings aren’t activating well, your muscle strength and load distribution falter. Your lower back ends up overworking, which can lead to muscle strain or even aggravate conditions like herniated disks.

This weakness can also affect gait mechanics and make you more prone to repetitive stress injury. One of our goals in therapy is to restore balance by reactivating these key stabilizers.

4- Prolonged Flexion or Extension Posture

Hiking for hours means your spine stays in some combination of forward flexion (think uphill climbing) and lumbar extension (like leaning back with a heavy pack). Both can lead to:

• Muscle strain

• Facet joint irritation

• Disc pressure

Especially if you're hiking with a heavy load or leaning on trekking poles for balance, your spine might be stuck in positions it doesn’t tolerate well.

This gets worse when movement variability is low. For example, if your anterior chain doesn’t eccentrically control forward lean, you may hold yourself in an exaggerated hinge or extension pattern for stability. Similarly, if hip extension is limited, you might arch through your lumbar spine to compensate, increasing shear stress at L4–L5 or L5–S1.

The takeaway: poor control or mobility in one region often creates excessive stress somewhere else, and your lower back is frequently the victim.

5- Poor Load Management (aka Your Pack Is Too Heavy)

Hiking with a poorly adjusted or overloaded backpack can drastically increase compressive and shear forces on the lumbar spine. If the pack shifts side-to-side or pulls your upper body backward, your lower back has to fight harder to stabilize.

Combined with fatigued postural muscles or suboptimal movement strategies, this can cause tissue overload quickly. If you don’t have sufficient eccentric strength through your anterior chain to counterbalance the pack, you may rely too much on passive structures (like ligaments and joint capsules) or over-activate spinal extensors to maintain posture.

Add that up over a few hours or a few weekends in a row, and it’s no wonder your back is barking.

However, hiking shouldn’t hurt your back. With the right movement strategy, strength foundation, and recovery plan, you can enjoy Colorado’s mountains pain-free.

Whether you're prepping for your next 14er or just want to explore the foothills without fear of flare-ups, physical therapy offers a proactive path forward.

Ready to reclaim your trail time? Book a free discovery call with our team at Rise Rehab and Sport Performance today and let’s build a back that’s as strong as your summit goals.

Treatment Options: How Physical Therapy Helps Chronic Lower Back Pain After Walking and Hiking

At Rise, our approach is rooted in thorough assessment, active treatment, and education. Here's how PT can help you overcome and prevent hiking-related back pain:

1- Identify Your Specific Movement Limitations

We start with a full evaluation that looks at:

• Spinal mobility and segmental control

• Core stability and endurance

• Hip and ankle range of motion

• Gait and hiking mechanics (when possible)

• Functional strength and load tolerance

Understanding what your body is doing, or not doing, is step one to meaningful change.

2- Targeted Mobility Work

If you're limited in your hips or ankles, we’ll use techniques like:

• Joint mobilization

• Soft tissue release (manual or IASTM)

• Functional mobility drills

Our goal is to restore clean, pain-free motion in the areas that matter most on the trail.

3- Progressive Core and Glute Strengthening

We don’t just do planks. We build real-world strength with movements like:

• Bird dogs, dead bugs, and anti-rotation work

• Glute bridges, banded squats, and single-leg loading

• Loaded carries and step-downs

We train your system to share the load effectively, so your back doesn’t have to do it all.

4- Hike-Specific Conditioning and Return-to-Trail Planning

If you've been sidelined from hiking, we’ll help you build a clear return-to-hike plan. This may include:

• Incline treadmill work

• Step-up and stair training

• Pack-loaded carries

• Education on gear adjustments and pacing

We meet you where you are, then build up gradually while tracking tolerance and recovery each step of the way.

5- Manual Therapy and Pain Modulation (When Appropriate)

In the short term, we may use hands-on techniques to relieve pain and improve mobility:

• Spinal mobilization or manipulation

• Dry needling for muscle tension

• Soft tissue techniques for hip flexors or QL

But we always follow up with movement because that’s what creates long-term change.

What You Can Start Doing Right Now

Not ready to see a PT just yet? Here are a few higher-level strategies to start restoring better movement control and reducing back strain on the trail:

1- Adductor-Facilitated Jefferson Curl

A powerful exercise to improve segmental spinal control and posterior chain mobility while integrating hip and core coordination.

• Stand tall holding a light kettlebell or dumbbell

• Place a soft ball or yoga block between your knees and gently squeeze

• Slowly roll down one vertebra at a time into a forward fold

• Keep glutes relaxed and let hamstrings lengthen under control

• Reverse the motion segment by segment back to standing

• Perform 2–3 sets of 6–8 slow reps

This improves anterior chain eccentric control and teaches you how to hinge without overusing your lumbar extensors.

2- Hip Flexor Eccentrics (Rear-Foot Elevated)

Instead of just stretching, train your hip flexors to lengthen under load, which is critical for efficient uphill and downhill hiking.

• Set up in a rear-foot elevated split squat (back foot on a bench or box)

• Slowly lower down over 5–6 seconds, keeping your pelvis neutral (not arched)

• Focus on feeling a stretch in the front of the hip, not the low back

• Return to standing and repeat for 6–10 reps per leg

This improves eccentric strength and reduces over extension of the lumbar spine when your stride opens up on steep terrain.

3- Glute-Loaded Step-Downs

Great for building single-leg strength and motor control, especially important on rocky or uneven trails.

• Stand on a low box or step

• Slowly lower one foot to the ground in front of you while controlling your hip and knee

• Keep hips level and torso upright. Avoid hip drop or lumbar compensation

• Push back up through your stance leg

• Perform 2–3 sets of 6–8 reps per side

This builds posterior chain coordination, improves pelvic control, and reduces lumbar overload during dynamic trail movement.

Find Help With Rise PT in Denver

If your back pain persists longer than a few days, keeps returning after hikes, or limits your ability to enjoy Colorado’s trails, it’s worth getting assessed.

The sooner you identify the root cause, the faster you can get back to doing what you love.

At Rise, we specialize in helping active adults in Denver get out of pain and back to high-level activity, without relying on medication, injections, or unnecessary imaging.

Final Thoughts

Hiking shouldn’t hurt your back. With the right movement strategy, strength foundation, and recovery plan, you can enjoy Colorado’s mountains pain-free.

Whether you're prepping for your next 14er or just want to explore the foothills without fear of flare-ups, physical therapy offers a proactive path forward.

Ready to reclaim your trail time? Book a free discovery call with our team at Rise Rehab and Sport Performance today, and let’s build a back that’s as strong as your summit goals.