The return to exercise after a spell of back trouble fails in one direction: too much, too fast, once. The successful version is deliberately boring, adding a little each week and stopping for the right reasons rather than the wrong ones.
How gradually should you build back up?
More gradually than feels necessary. A reasonable rule is to increase any single thing, distance, pace, frequency, by small steps weekly, not all three at once. Walking before jogging, jogging before running, and rest days that are actually rest.
For those who land on running, the Lane Six guide for Corby and England explains how to start running safely: the first weeks of jogging, Couch to 5K, surfaces and rest days, and the move from solo jogging to a led group.
Is gentle running sensible after back trouble?
Often, yes, once ordinary walking is comfortable and easy. Running is higher-impact than walking but the evidence does not show it harms healthy backs; the usual failure is doing the ambitious version of week one.
Parkrun, the free Saturday-morning five-kilometre run or walk, is the UK's built-in answer for the middle stage: timed, social, and entirely at your own pace, at parkrun.org.uk.
What kit matters in the first weeks?
Less than the shops suggest: shoes that fit and feel right, and clothing suited to the weather. The expensive version of a beginner's kit is a distraction from the only thing that matters, which is the weekly pattern.
When should you stop and get looked at?
When pain goes down a leg, when numbness or weakness appears, when back pain comes with fever or follows a fall, or when a pattern of pain keeps worsening rather than settling. Our page on back pain, the plain version has the full red-flag list.
The commute version of the same habit is in desk, saddle, desk.