Gentle exercise as first‑line pain care

A large umbrella review finds that short, low‑intensity exercise programs (walking, yoga, tai chi, short aerobic or resistance sessions) produce substantial reductions in acute and chronic pain — on average a 1.1 point drop on a 1–10 pain scale — and outperform typical medication effects. The effect appears across musculoskeletal, neurological, inflammatory, and cancer‑related pain, and more exercise (higher intensity or longer duration) is not necessary to gain benefit. — If adopted into practice and policy, this could shift prescribing norms, reduce reliance on opioids and costly drugs, change reimbursement and guideline priorities, and alter public‑health strategies for managing chronic pain.