Yoga for Lower Back Pain

Our bodies do wonderful things for us, but sometimes the body experiences pain that reduces some of these joys in life. There are many common reasons for back pain, especially poor posture patterns and repetitive motions. Poor posture and continuous motions result in some weakened muscles and some tightened muscles.

Commonly, people experience lower back pain due to sitting a lot, whether this is from working a desk job, remaining stationary for long periods of time, construction work, etc. Sitting forces your hip muscles to contract and your lower back to extend causing tension in the hips and imbalances and joint pain in both areas.

Chiropractic work, strengthening exercises, stretching, and massage are great avenues for addressing and correcting muscular imbalances and lower back pain. Chiropractic work helps to realign the joints that have shifted out of place due to these muscular imbalances. Massage helps to work on the muscles that are stuck in a contracted state in order to relax and re-lengthen them. Strengthening and stretching exercises after an adjustment will begin to shift the body back into proper alignment. This will take time and dedication to reteach the body, but the end goal is a pain-free, happy life!

Start off small and be extra aware of what your body needs as you begin your road to recovery. Yoga is a great beginning point for a lot of people suffering from lower back pain. There are numerous poses that will help to strengthen and stretch these muscles leaving you feeling great. Since the abdominal and gluteal muscles are normally weak and the lower back is usually tight, finding movements that force your abdominals and glutes to be engaged is ideal.

Try these poses to address lower back pain and to strengthen and stretch affected muscles:

Child’s Pose
Lengthening/stretching the lower back

Bird-dog Pose
Engaging the core and glutes

Cat-Cow Pose
Cat pose engages the abdominals and lengthens the back. Cow pose engages the back and lengthens the abdominals.

Bridge Pose
Engaging the back, glutes and hamstrings

Sphinx Pose
Lengthening the abdominals and iliopsoas. Engaging the back.

Cobra Pose
Same as sphinx but more advanced (palms press into the mat, forearms and elbows lift up and toward the ribcage)

By working these simple yoga poses into your routine, you can help keep muscles in balance and work to reverse the negative effects of poor posture patterns! As always, we are here to help restore alignment and relax tense muscles.