Yoga is a beautiful practice that helps to make you physically, mentally, and spiritually fit. There are many ways in which yoga can help, and there are many health conditions that can be easily solved by doing the correct set of yoga. One of those conditions is lower back pain!
Back pain could be attributed to the stiffening of the vertebral column due to age, or less mobility, or other pathological factors. Nevertheless, practising light yoga daily not only helps to relieve your back pain, but also helps to strengthen your back muscle, increase the flexibility of your back, and correct your posture. So why not prefer yoga poses for lower back pain as a solution?
How Does Yoga Actually Help Lower Back Pain?
Practising yoga requires your alertness, balance, and strength; therefore, doing yoga helps to increase your awareness towards your own body. This newly acquired self-awareness adds a positive note in your health and makes you conscious about your posture even while doing your chores, which in turn helps you to correct it in time before the actual damage is done.
Similarly, stretchings while doing yoga help to relax your muscles and increase blood flow. As stretching also helps in releasing endorphins, the lower back pain is relieved and you will get a sense of tranquillity.
Moreover, unlike other exercises, yoga helps you to stretch and strengthen both sides of your body equally, which helps to maintain proper body alignment and, of course, a good body posture. Additionally, maintaining the natural curvature of the spine is an important part of reducing and avoiding lower back pain, and this is exactly what yoga helps to do.
7 Best Yoga Poses For Lower Backaches
Back pain, like any other pain, can range from simple ones to severe. Moreover, the below-mentioned yoga can be of help for any severity of backache.
1. Cow Pose (Bitilasana) – Cat Pose (Marjaryasana)
Famously known as the “cat-cow” pose is very effective when it comes to stretching the back muscle (erector spinae, rectus abdominis, serratus anterior, gluteus maximus). This posture relaxes and stretches the muscles simultaneously with every incoming and outgoing breathe.
Benefits:
- Improves posture and balance
- Soothes the lower back pain, and makes lower back flexible
- Strengthens the spine and neck, also stretches the hips, abdomen and back
- Increases coordination, emotional balance and calms the mind
Massages and stimulates organs in the belly, like the kidneys and adrenal glands - Creates emotional balance
2. Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog)
This pose mostly focuses on your hamstrings and stretched the back of the thigh, which in turn puts pressure in gluteus maximus but releases pressure from lower back muscle.
Therefore, bending forward keeping the knees straight could give a rejuvenation effect when it comes to lower back pain.
Benefits:
- Helps to relieve back pain and prevent sciatica
- Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression and energizes the body
- Strengthens the arms and leg, and also makes the lower back flexible
- Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause and menstrual problems
- Helps prevent osteoporosis and prevent quick ageing of bones and ligaments
3. Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose)
This pose is also a part of Surya Namaskar and is known as “the cobra pose” as in this posture you are required to lift your torso just like the cobra lifts its hood. This pose should be done with the help of hand balance and core muscle.
- Increase the flexibility of the spine, which in turn makes the lower back flexible
- Stretches the chest while strengthening the spine and shoulders, and opens up chest muscle
- Helps in increasing lung capacity by facilitating thoracic muscle expansion, which is therapeutic for asthma
- Stimulates the abdominal organs, improving digestion
4. Salabhasana (Locust Pose)
Commonly known as the Locust pose, this pose helps especially to strengthen your core muscles and helps even to develop a proper set of abs.
However, as you are required to alternately stretch and relax the spine, the back muscle is sure to be flexible.
Benefits:
- Strengthens and increases flexibility throughout the entire, including the spine, legs, buttocks, and all of the muscles surrounding your ribs and upper torso
- Improves posture
- Helps relieve stress caused by slouching forward
- Can also maintain the spinal alignment and increases parasympathetic activity making you calm, relaxed and composed
5. Kapotasana (King Pigeon Pose)
This pose requires you to straighten your back, and flex your body as much as possible; therefore, if you have a serious back problem, I would not recommend you to start off with this posture.
Also known as the Pigeon pose, this asana not only helps to maintain the alignment of your spine but also helps to stretches hip rotators and flexors, and loosen the tight hip which in turn helps to ease lower back pain.
Benefits:
- Releases tension from hips and makes it flexible
- Makes the lower back more flexible and keeps the spine in proper alignment
- Helps to get rid of urinary problems
- Emotionally makes you stable, as it is thought that certain stressful emotions are stored in hips, which could be a reason for hip and lower back pain
6. Trikonasana (Triangle Pose)
Commonly known as the Triangle pose, Trikonasana has variations including Baddha Trikonasana and Parivrtta Trikonasana. This pose is very good for backache; however, in the case of postero-lateral disc herniation, and another spinal related injury, this pose is not advisable.
Benefits:
- Stretches legs, muscles around the knee, ankle joints, hips, groin muscles, hamstrings, calves, shoulders, chest and spine which helps to improve flexibility
- Strengthens rectus abdominals, obliques and back muscles (including, the erector spinae)
- Stimulates function of abdominal organs which improves digestion
- Relieves stress accumulated due to postural abnormality
7. Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Supported Bridge Pose)
This pose is commonly known as the bridge pose and this posture is very beneficial even for lower abdominal pain, including the menstrual cramps. The backbend and inversion in this pose could be stimulating or restorative.
Benefits:
- Stretches the spine so can help to eliminate backache or headache
- Stretches the chest, neck, spine, and hips, and strengthens the back, buttocks, and hamstrings.
- Improves circulation of blood, which can calm the brain and the whole nervous system in general
- Helps alleviate stress and mild depression.
- Improves digestion and reduces menstrual cramps
In Conclusion
Yoga of different variations can show a miraculous effect on revealing backaches; however, there are certain conditions in which practising yoga to eliminate backache could get worse.
Therefore, it is advisable to first seek medical advice and then start yoga as in some conditions like disc prolapse and disc herniation, doing these poses could make the condition worse.
Lower back pain is mostly due to improper posturing or due to years of accumulated tension caused as a result of a lack of proper exercise. So, if you are trying to eliminate back stiffness and irritable lower backache, these yoga poses for lower back pain can work miracles!
References: Spine-Health | YogaOutlet | Healthline | EverydayHealth
