My journey with yoga started in 2016 after suffering from back pain for almost 15 years, regular hamstring injuries and recent knee surgery. It literally changed my life, even if it took me many years to touch my toes! Simple yoga poses could be the answer if you regularly suffer from numerous injuries.
Back pain is a common condition that can significantly affect the quality of your life. Whether it is caused by poor posture, a sedentary lifestyle, or an injury, the pain can be debilitating and may even last for years. However, incorporating yoga into your daily routine can help manage and alleviate back pain effectively. Here’s how yoga can improve your back pain.
Strengthen Your Core
Sitting for long hours can weaken your core, leading to tight hips and lower back pain. Practising yoga regularly is an ancient technique that can help strengthen your abdominal muscles. Mindfully focusing on the specific muscles that you are strengthening is crucial to make the most out of it. Improved strength allows you to hold different positions and incorporate different movements while practising. If you experience frequent back pain, consider doing yoga back stretches that strengthen your back and abdominal muscles. These muscles are crucial components of your spinal muscular network and help you maintain proper body posture and movement, reducing or avoiding back pain. High or low plank are two excellent exercises to strengthen your trunk, plus it only takes around a minute! If it's too difficult, you can always start with your knees on the ground. If you're a pro, I recommend this plank app (Android, IOS) to do every morning. It offers levelled and challenging plank variations to help you get quick trackable gains.
Relax Your Joints and Muscles
Stretching is essential for people with tight muscles and poor mobility. Stretching your spinal or hamstring muscles can reduce stress across your back by expanding the motion in the pelvis. When done regularly, it can reduce stress on your back muscles and help them relax. However, to cure back pain with yoga, it’s essential to hold the poses gently for 10 to 60 seconds according to your comfort. Yoga poses improve the flexibility of your muscles and joints, improve your blood flow, and flush out toxins from your body. Simple stretches can also be done during your work day, increasing flexibility and mobility.
Improve Balance, Alignment, and Posture
Yoga is a low-impact physical activity that strengthens and relaxes both sides of your body equally, reducing pain. Unlike other exercises, it helps you improve your body’s balance and alignment. Practising yoga regularly helps your body learn to be healthy and supple, which is essential to reduce back pain. Yoga back stretches can reduce the impacts of bad posture, one of the main reasons behind back pain. If you suffer from poor posture, check out our blog here.
Improve Body Awareness
Yoga is one of the best ways to increase awareness of your body. Practising yoga helps you concentrate on positioning and repositioning your body parts, limber your body, and understand the limitations of your body parts. It also lets you identify misbalances in your body, such as one hip being more flexible. With improved awareness, you can take preventative measures more efficiently. It also helps reduce the overall feeling of pain as it improves your mind. Yoga helps improve flexibility and strengthen muscles, which is essential for preventing or reducing back pain.
If you’re looking to strengthen your back muscles, these three poses are a great place to start, regardless of your flexibility:
Cobra pose helps to strengthen the back, open the chest, and increase flexibility. To do this pose, lie on your stomach and place your hands beneath your shoulders. As you inhale, lift your chest and upper body while keeping your elbows close to your body. Hold for a few breaths before releasing.
Downward facing dog pose is a great way to stretch and lengthen the entire body, while also strengthening the arms, shoulders, and core. To do it, start on your hands and knees, with your hands shoulder-width apart and your knees hip-width apart. Lift your hips up and back, straightening your arms and legs, and forming an inverted V-shape with your body. Press your hands into the ground and draw your shoulder blades down your back. Hold for several deep breaths.
Seated forward fold is a calming pose that stretches the hamstrings and lower back. To do it, sit on the floor with your legs extended in front of you. Inhale and lengthen your spine, then exhale and fold forward from the hips, reaching for your feet or shins. Keep your spine long and your shoulders relaxed, and hold for several deep breaths. If you have tight hamstrings, you can bend your knees slightly or use a strap to help you reach your feet.
Not feeling confident about incorporating yoga into your daily routine? The Yoback could be the answer
The Yoback can be used to help with simple yoga exercises and routines through our ebook and Youtube tutorial videos. Whether you want to use the complete wheel for assisted poses, or the individual blocks as ergonomic yoga blocks to protect your wrists, the Yoback’s got you back. Use it as a prop to relax and stretch your core muscles.
No matter if you are a beginner or an expert, Yoback will help you to practise a variety of poses with confidence. It also comes with free delivery, a 30-day money-back guarantee, and a lifetime warranty, so there’s no risk in trying it out today!
