You may already know this, and you probably certainly feel it, lower back pain seems to impact 8 out of every 10 people.
If you have lower back pain don’t think it has anything to do with your activity levels, either. The affiliction hits both sedentary and athletic people.
The good news is that relief is as common as affliction. Some time ago, in a twelve-month study conducted in the U.K., researchers discovered that yoga was a cheap and effective way to deal with lower back pain. If that doesn’t convince you then, consider that the people in the study who did the yoga also took fewer days off work for sickness than their non-yoga counterparts in the study.
But, what you really want to know is what poses are best for you? We are going to get into that shortly, but we have a few provisos. It’s lower back pain, it is uncomfortable, and you probably need to ease yourself into self-care. Your pain may be because you are doing too much or, not enough. In both cases, you probably have good reason to take things slow.
However, like all remedial movement, remember that you need to keep doing these poses beyond the quick fix stage, and make sure that self-care is a part of your daily routine. And, if you really don’t feel better, you probably need to see someone.
If you are experiencing significant weight loss, fever and chills, feel weakness in your legs, and a number of other symptoms then, there may be some other, more serious, issue that you need to address. Get expert medical advice if that is the case or you are unsure.
However, most back pain goes away with self-care and rest. So, for those cases, let’s dig into the magnificent 7.
Supine Hamstring Stretch
Two-Knee Twist
Sphinx
Thread The Needle
Pigeon
Legs Up the Wall
Downward and Upward Dog
Finally, you might want to go through this full 5 minute tutorial from our Yogi, Alison Bristow, on the 5 main poses and modifications for true sufferers.
