Three Keys to alleviate low back pain

My yoga classes, mostly, start with few open- ended questions to participants: Do I need to know anything about you? Is there any specific yoga poses you would like to practice today- or, something you do not want to do? Participants always want to work on lower back. Sometimes, after the class, they linger to learn poses to alleviate lower back pain. It’s a trend.

I have witnessed my fiends’ experience with chronic back pain attributed to unused or misused muscles. A recent survey found 25% adult Americans suffer from low back pain.  Numerous studies demonstrated the assuaging role of yoga on the lower back. So, I thought to take low back pain as the theme for my classes for the next few weeks. Yoga being a combination of physical exercise with cognitive acuity, aligned postures, self-awareness, and relaxation, it makes sense to accept the conclusions of those peer-reviewed scientific studies: yoga improved back function in adults with chronic or recurrent low back pain. In one study (Annals of Internal medicine 155 (9), 570 (2011)), lead authors conclude, “a 12-week yoga program to adults with chronic back pain led to greater improvements in back function than did usual care”

There are three keys to a strong back and ease lower back pain: stability of spine; strong core muscles and relaxation.

Stability of spine: first key for a strong back.

The instability of the spine is the core to many back issues.  Yoga’s ability to recreate, strengthen and maintain spinal curves (cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral) enhance the stability of the back. Man is the only biped animal with such high center of gravity. However, the intelligent design endowed us with right curvatures to distribute body weight evenly by the concerted action of multitude of muscles. The weakness of these muscles (agonist and antagonist) creating these curves may be the beginning of back discomfort. Flexion and extension of the spine, alternatively working with the curves and against the curves, is the easiest way to recreate and maintain those curves. The simple sun salutation A is a classic example of such a therapeutic sequence. There are many other duo poses too- cat/cow; star pose/wide-stance forward bend; apanasana/dwipada pidasana; navasana/chatur pidasana…These therapeutic combinations have one commonality: they create the abdominal space by relaxing diaphragm. This is essential for proper alignment of the lumbar spine- a valuable key to ease the pressure in the low back.

Strong core muscles: the second key.

Strong core muscles also add to the stability of the spine. A strong core require the vigor of internal organs (which control metabolism, digestion and elimination); calorie expenditure by the muscles on the midsection; and, of course, the strength of oblique and rectus abdominal muscles.  There is no exercise modality which could meet these demands to develop a flat and strong ab than yoga. For example, dhanurasana which can massage and sensitize the internal organs is an effective deep tissue massage. The warmth created by the rocking motion burns the fat accumulated between the muscle fibers of rectus abdominus (6 pack muscle).

Deep diaphragmatic breathing massages internal organs and increase volume of oxygen intake. Once the efficiency of breathing is increased, additional oxygen molecules will seek the target for its action- or, in common term- burn calories. What would be the efficiency of yoga poses if you could combine deep breathing and the abdominal twisting in poses like chair, moon and side angle. Imagine the number of modifications in yoga poses; properly aligned (yoga pose) modifications need to be construed as the gift from yoga to break insanity.

(Insanity: doing the same thing again and again expecting a different result. Humans, by evolution, is designed to preserve energy. The amount of energy used for the latter crunches would be much lower than your first abdominal crunch. Muscle have “brain”; by doing the same stuff again and again you train them to preserve energy. You make them to work smarter- not harder. When your yoga instructor gives modification, take that as a challenge to trick your muscles)

Relaxation: the third key

Your ability relax in a yoga class in Savasana, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) techniques, or mindful yoga sequences  are valuable tools in your fight against lower back pain.

In addition to the usual vinyas, I am planning to focus on breath awareness, diaphragmatic space, therapeutic-duo postures, MBSR and Chakra meditation.  Hope to see you in one of my classes in LA Fitness, Signature Fitness or Twin Heart Yoga

Thy,

Jay