6 Yoga Poses To Help You Get Relief From Back Pain

Back pain not only hurts, but it’s very annoying when it won’t go away (let me live my life!). If your bad posture or sedentary desk job has your back buggin’, yoga might just be your saving grace for back pain relief.

Yoga isn’t just about relaxing your mind, it’s also hella good for strengthening your body. Focusing on poses that stretch the back can work on different muscles to improve any imbalances and alignment issues that could be at the root of your pain.

# Mountain Pose

The mountain pose is the perfect pose to work on our posture. Maintaining an over-exaggerated posture throughout your day is unrealistic.

However, if you perform an over-exaggerated posture several times throughout your day, you create new neural pathways and bring awareness to your poor posture.

Over time, you shift your body to sit and stand up straight.

- Stand with your feet hip-distance apart.
- Contract your lower abdominal muscles. (In yoga, this may be referred to as a mula bandha)
- Keep your arms down along your side, and palms rotated toward the front of your mat.
- Roll your shoulders back and draw your shoulder blades together, imagining that you are holding an apple between them.
- Soften your shoulders away from your ears and toward the ground.
- If you feel awkward and uncomfortable, you are doing it right.

# Forward Bend/Fold

When you move, you work and contract your muscles. But when you sit at your desk, in the car, or on the bleachers watching your kids play, your legs are positioned at a 90° angle, keeping your leg muscles in a contracted state.

The forward bend/fold increases your hamstring flexibility, which is important even for those who do not experience chronic low back issues. This pose is typically performed from a mountain pose.

- Stand straight and keep a slight bend in the knee. A good rule of thumb is never lockout a joint in any psychical activity that you are doing, especially in a forward fold! Locking your knees increases the load on your facet joints (your vertebrae) by 10 times the amount your spine is designed to hold. It also limits the mobility in the lower vertebrae and can increase the possibility of pinching discs or nerves.
- Keep an exaggerated posture, which will help keep you safe by forcing you to hinge at the hips, limiting the amount you round at the low back.
- Hinge forward until you no longer feel that you can keep your back straight. The old saying applies: yoga is NOT about touching your toes but about the journey on the way down. When you are no longer able to keep your back straight, allow your spine, shoulders, and head to relax toward the floor. If you want to make sure you hinge from your hips, place your hands on your hips. Contract your belly, feeling a slight posterior tilt of your pelvis. This slight adjustment should decrease an exaggerated lordosis that may be contributing to your low back pain.
- If you feel a strain in your back, bend your knees more, almost going into a squat if needed.
- Come back to standing, first by going back to where you had your flat back and then activating your glutes and quadriceps to bring yourself back up to standing. You should feel no strain in your low back.

# Cat-Cow Pose

The cat-cow pose is great for pretty much anyone but especially for those who sit most of the day and lead stressful lives.

- Start on your hands and knees, with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Your spine should feel lengthened from the top of your head to your tailbone.
- Draw a deep breath in and then exhale, rounding your shoulders to the sky like an angry cat.
- As you inhale, allow the belly to sway toward the floor into a cow pose.
- While in the cow pose, soften your shoulders away from your ears and keep your forehead parallel to the floor.

# Seated Forward Fold

The seated forward fold is an excellent pose to increase the flexibility of the hamstrings, calves, glutes, and low back and may help alleviate the tension on the pelvis.

But just like the standing forward folds, many people perform this pose incorrectly.

- Sit with your legs stretched out in front. Keep a soft bend in the knee.
- Hook a bath towel or long strap over the bottoms of your feet. Draw your shoulder blades together and hinge at your hips. If you do not have a towel or strap, place your hands on either side of your legs, or place your fingertips behind your back to keep your spine tall and lengthened.
- Reach your chin toward your toes. Do not round your back while trying to touch your toes. Turning your back decreases the amount of stretching and can put stress on the vertebrae.
- Breathe deeply, and on the exhale, reach your chin closer toward your toes.
- Exhale and round your back toward your legs to the range of motion that feels best for you, and return to a seated position. Rounding the back for a controlled and short amount of time is beneficial and needed.

(image source: openfit)

# Cobra Pose

The cobra pose is another great pose to help alleviate low back pain but, again, only if it is done correctly.

- Lie on your stomach with the tops of your feet flat.
- Place your palms, or your elbow for modification, under your shoulders.
- Inhale and shift your weight forward toward the top of your mat, softening your shoulders away from your ears.
- Reach the crown of your head to the wall in front of you, keeping your spine long. Do not gaze up to the sky as this tends to compress the cervical and lower lumbar spine.
- Lift your chest off the mat, keeping a slight bend in the elbows if your palms are under your shoulders, keeping your hips and legs in contact with the mat.

# Downward-Facing Dog

The downward-facing dog can be very grounding since both hands and feet are planted firmly on the ground. If you had an extremely stressful day, this pose could help soothe the nervous system and relax the entire body.

- From a tabletop position (all fours), walk your hands toward the top of the mat, placing your palms firmly into the mat.
- Curl your toes under and start to lift your glutes toward the sky.
- Keeping a soft bend in the elbows, shift the weight of your body toward the back of the mat, allowing your heels to soften toward the floor.
- Keep a bend in the knees if you experience low back pain as this helps you hinge at the hips even in a downward-facing dog. As your muscle flexibility starts to increase, you can start to straighten your legs.
- Soften your shoulders away from the head to activate the muscles in the back, limiting the body weight to shift forward.
- Allow the head to soften and be heavy.
- Breathe for as many times as what feels right for you at this moment.