Three Keys to alleviate low back pain

I was not prepared to take low back pain as the theme of my class. As always, when you hear your friends, their issues with low back (mostly through Facebook), and follow their discussion, I thought I would jump in. 25% adult Americans suffer from low back pain attributed to unused or misused muscles.  Numerous studies demonstrated the assuaging role of yoga on the back. Yoga being a combination of physical exercise with cognitive acuity, aligned postures, self-awareness, and relaxation, it makes sense to accept those conclusions. There are three keys for 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 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 an 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 pada 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.

A strong core requires the vigor of internal organs (which control metabolism, digestion and elimination); calorie expenditure by the muscles in 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. The internal energy generated by the rocking motion in dhanurasana massages and sensitize the internal organs to burn 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 lay man’s term- burn calories. What would be the efficiency of the yoga poses if you could combine deep breathing and the abdominal twisting of some popular yoga 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.

Relaxation: the third key.

Your ability relax 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.

Jay