Practicing yoga will help you reduce your back pain.
Most of us at some point have experienced lower back pain. People miss out on work and fun because of back pain. Sometimes it is temporary and sometimes it stays. There are many causes for back pain. My goal in this article is to explain how practicing yoga will help you alleviate back pain.
There are two major muscle groups that help support the spine and lower back. One is Psoas (pronounced So-as) and the other is Hamstring. Let us first talk about Psoas.
There are three muscles in the Psoas group; the Psoas Major, the Psoas Minor and the Iliacus. These are deep inside our bodies and support the weight of most of our abdominal organs. The most important job of the Psoas is to help us maintain an upright position against the force of gravity. When a segment of our body is misaligned, the muscles working in this area contract under the strain and become short and tight, and the muscles that are in the opposition to the strained area compensate and stretch. Over time, these over-stretched muscles become weak and lose their tone. When the Psoas is misaligned, the muscles in the lower back become short and tight and the abdominal muscles in the front of the torso become stretched and lose their tone.
This is where yoga poses become useful. Most Hatha yoga poses in one way or the other help us align our bodies. These poses help us work the muscles that are deep inside of us such as the Psoas group. Over time as we strengthen the Psoas muscles we provide strong support for our lower back. At the same time, the yoga poses help us strengthen and tone our abdominal muscles which also provide support for our spine.
As an example, look at the Cow and Cat pose. In the Cow part of the pose, we extend the spine from the hip and slightly curve it by bringing our belly down toward the floor. So, we engage the spine, the abdominal muscles and the Psoas deep inside are also engaged to move the abdominal muscles. As we go to the Cat part of the pose, we round our back and tuck in the abdominal muscles. Again, in order for the spine to round and for the abdominal muscles to contract, we have to engage the Psoas group. The repetition of the Cow/Cat pose helps activate the whole core muscles which over time become strong and provide support for the spine.
The second muscle group is the hamstrings. The hamstring muscle group is on the back of our thighs and knees. They have two primary jobs; knee flexion (bending the knee) and hip extension. Tight hamstrings could cause the hips and pelvis to rotate back flattening the lower back, limiting motion and causing back pain. Extending these muscles helps our bodies to become in balance. In your yoga practice, there are many poses that help extend the hamstring. For example, in the Standing Forward Fold, we hinge from our hips and bring our hands down toward the floor as we extend our knees which in turn helps extend our hamstrings.
Keep in mind that releasing back pain takes time. If you are starting a yoga practice, go in with the understanding that yoga is not a quick fix. But over time, as you work on your Psoas and hamstring muscles, you strengthen them and they provide support for your spine.
Mariam Gilmer is a certified Hatha yoga instructor. She may be reached at mgilmer@bgilmercom. Her web site is yogawithmariam.com
