If you’ve ever cried out, “Oh my aching back!” you’re not the only one. But you don’t need to worry about missing your work or making a visit to a doctor. Simple yoga poses can cure back pain in a matter of few minutes.
Back pain and yoga
Back pain comprises of upper back pain, middle back pain, lower back pain or low back pain with sciatica. Arthritis, degenerative disc disease, nerve and muscular problems can lead to back pain. Severe back pain may be relived with pain medication or pain killers.
However, yoga benefits can’t be neglected.
Yoga is a quick and effective back pain treatment. Specific yoga poses and yoga exercises may do good to relieve you from occasional pain or chronic aches. You may benefit from certain yoga poses and postures that can help stretching your spine, elongate and strengthen your muscles and return your back to its apt alignment. Yoga is a traditional practice which emphasizes flexibility, strength and stretching to cure back pain.
Also Read:Yoga poses to keep diabetes in control
Yoga exercises for back pain
Yoga exercises are simple and can be performed anywhere and anytime. Be it your chair at the work desk, in front of your television or your yoga mat, you can practice various yoga poses for back pain with great ease.
As you work through yoga poses approved by your doctor, your muscles will widen and relax in areas where they were stressed earlier. These are muscles which may not get stretched often, and yoga offers an atmosphere to do so.
You can try these all direction back stretch yoga poses as back pain treatment and witness the benefits of yoga over your body:
Seat yourself comfortably in cross-legged pose or sukhasana. Sit with your back straight and shoulders relaxed. If you’re more comfortable in performing these yoga postures while standing, keep your feet parallel.
Lengthening the spine
Breathe in while slowly lifting up your arms from the sides. Interlace your fingers in a manner so that both the thumbs touch each other. Try to stretch up as much as you comfortably can. You can deepen the back stretch to the most by gently pulling your navel inwards. Keep your elbows straight and make sure that your biceps touch your ears. Hold this posture for 2-3 long breaths.
Twisting the spine to left and right
Continuing in the previous position, breathe out while gently twisting to the left side. Hold this position for 2-3 long breaths. Inhale and return to the center. Exhale and turn to your right side. Again hold this position for 2-3 long breaths. Inhale and come back to the center.
Bending the spine left and right
Remain in the same position with your fingers interlaced above your head. Exhale and slightly bend to the left side. Hold this position and keep breathing. Inhale and come back to the center. Breathe out and bend a little to the right side. You may engage your abdominal muscles while stretching to deepen the back stretch. Make sure that you are not bending to the front or back and also that one hand is not stretched more than the other hand. Breathe in, return to the center.
Bending the spine forward and backward
Exhale while stretching your hands out to the front. Breathe in and as you now exhale, stretch forward from your lower back. Breathe in and as you breathe out, turn to your left side. Make sure that both the hands are parallel to each other and stretched uniformly, else smoothly correct the posture. Breathe in and come back to the center.
Breathe out and repeat the stretch while turning to the right. Return to the center as you inhale and slowly raise your arms. Unlock the fingers and stretch backwards. Breathe in and return to the center. As you breathe out, slowly bring your hands from the sides.
This exercise gives a nice massage to your lower back.
Twisting the spine from side-to-side
Lay your right palm on your left knee. Take a deep breath and as you breathe out, slowly twist to your left side. You may keep your left palm on the floor beside your left hip. Stretch upward by pressing the right palm on the floor. Do not bend forward or backward. Breathe in and return to the center. Exhale and repeat the stretch on the right side in a similar manner.
Return to the center while breathing in. Change your cross-legged position. Earlier, if your right leg was placed over the left, place the left leg over the right now and repeat the stretch as explained above to the left and right sides.
Conclusion:
Yoga benefits are plentiful and yoga poses are simple to perform. Yoga exercises if practiced regularly and correctly, can cure back pain in a short time. Benefits of yoga include improvisation of the body posture, strengthening of the back and abdominal muscles and complete relaxation of the tired back.
