Spring is coming to the southern U.S. The break in the cold weather allows some of our favorite activities like long walks, spring cleaning, and gardening. After a lazy hibernating winter, getting outside and active can feel so good! However, lots of bending over and lifting heavy things can easily lead to experiencing some back pain. What do we do when our bodies need a little help? We turn to yoga, of course! Like most physical ailments, yoga can help with back pain. Read on to learn a few simple poses to help relieve back pain.
A quick note, before undertaking any restorative yoga for your back pain, always consult your physician if you have any questions. Yoga is not the answer for every physical ailment we suffer, so if you ever aren’t sure it doesn’t hurt to check with a medical professional.
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Benefits of Yoga For Your Back Pain
Here are a few of the ways yoga can help with your back pain.
Increase Flexibility
There’s no question yoga increases flexibility. Yoga poses build up muscles in the back and other central parts of the body to help us combat back pain. When we improve our flexibility, we lessen the likelihood that we injure (or further injure) our backs during exercise or other strenuous activities.
Strengthen Muscles
Besides balance and flexibility, yoga helps us strengthen our muscles. When we strengthen our core, we create a more stable structure which means less back pain. With increased strength and stability, we can continue our favorite activities with less chance of injury.
Improve Circulation
Once we increase our flexibility and strength, our circulation improves. Yoga and other exercise increase our circulation as well. Where there is increased blood flow, there is increased healing, even for our aching or injured backs.
Better Posture For Back Pain
Poor posture can increase your back pain without a doubt. Yoga can help you improve your posture which will, in turn, decrease your back pain. All things in yoga are interconnected, and this is no exception. Increasing our flexibility, strengthening our muscles, etc., all contribute to having better posture and thus bringing us back into proper alignment.
Create Calm
Yoga is one of the best ways to relieve stress and create calm. The gradual body movements promote peace of mind and relaxation. We carry stress, even emotional stress, in our bodies, in our bones, and muscles. This stress can translate into pain in our core. Yoga relaxes us and can help alleviate some of the tension we feel from stress.
10 Yoga Poses That Can Help With Back Pain
Yoga poses that you can throw into your rotation to help with back pain are:
- Cat-Cow
- Locust
- Bridge
- Spinal Twist
- Downward Facing Dog
- Plank Pose
- Child’s Pose
- Pigeon Pose
- Happy Baby Pose
- Standing Forward Fold
Tips To Protect Your Back During Yoga
- Avoid twisting and extending at the same time. You can do one or the other, but avoid doing both simultaneously. This will compress your vertebrae, which can lead to back pain or an injury.
- Try doing forward bends while sitting, instead of standing, and brace your belly when you return to an upright position.
- If you can’t reach your toes for poses that call for it, use a band or yoga belt looped around your feet and hold the ends in each hand.
- Use props and bolsters whenever necessary for additional support.
- Never continue a pose that is uncomfortable. Stop anything that causes you undue pain and ask for help modifying a pose from either a medical professional or a certified yoga teacher.
Living with back pain can feel like it controls our lives. Barring a good reason from a doctor, we can use yoga to restore our aching muscles and bones so we can get back to doing the things we love. Take back your bodily health and function today. Will you try and see if yoga can help with back pain?
