Yoga for back pain
Yoga for back pain… Is it really effective?
Current research shows that the some of the spine stretching exercises practiced in yoga are great for your lower back and your back in general. Yoga is also known to fight sciatica and scoliosis.
Some perceptions that people have is that it may be difficult to exercise when you have a bad back and it may worsen your existing pain. You can start by practicing simple back and torso stretches and fight these perceptions.
Yoga for back pain includes certain asanas or stretches that enhance flexibility, strength and ease back pain. These stretches help relax the body to a great extent.
Back pain is the most common problem that every individual suffers from. The pain may be caused from the absence of flexibility, lack of strength in the lower back muscles, bad posture, bad bending and lifting techniques, overweight and stress. Some of you have suffered with back pain for years, while for some of the others it may be more of an on and off pain.
No matter what the cause and no matter how long you’ve been carrying that pain for, you can fight it with yoga. A simple advise however, would be to consult your doctor before practicing yoga or any other form of exercise.
Yoga poses for back pain
Some of the exercises that strengthen your back and fight your pain are listed below:
- Sun salutations
- The corpse pose
- The cat pose
- The cow pose
- The downward dog pose
- The cobra pose
- The forward bend
- The backward bend
- The fish pose
These poses when practiced fight back pain to a great extent.
It is easy to combine back pain and lower back pain together and find asanas that impact the same. But lower back pain is most common and there are yoga poses that target the lower back in particular. So I decided to place in a separate article so it is easy to follow.
How does yoga target back pain?
Most of the asanas suggest that the spine be kept erect while practicing them. This helps in spine alignment including the whole body. Spine is what supports are body. We physically function and move because of our spine and it is important to provide strength and support to it. A person with an injured spine may be immobile for life.
Yoga involves exercises that enhance strength and flexibility to the spine and the back muscles. When you perform the various asanas of yoga, as you stretch your spine you need to relax in each position and feel the stretch. When you release from that particular position your body should feel extremely relaxed and at ease.
Another most important thing you need to consider while exercising your back through yoga is to make sure you work your neck muscles as well. They are interlinked and work together. The back stretches are usually simple and easy. You don’t have to start with the advanced poses, but simple stretches can have a great impact on your back.
So if you have that common back pain, don’t ignore it. Start working at it straight away by following these simple yoga poses for back ache.
