Good Stuffs to read daily: 6 Yoga Poses to Help Alleviate Back Pain

You're reading 6 Yoga Poses to Help Alleviate Back Pain, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you're enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

It doesn’t comfort lower-back-pain sufferers to know that most people experience low back pain at some or other time in their lives. Office-bound people, especially those who work at computers, are sedentary for the best part of the day. Working in an office where ergonomics for workers is of little concern can lead to repetitive strain injury. This is a debilitating condition resulting from overuse of the hands and wrist for instance. Back pain is a modern 21st century epidemic, and many people take time off from work because of chronic pain. Various organizations such as the World Health Organization have even documented the many problems caused by back pain and the need for effective pain-management systems of medicine. When you spend most of the day sitting at a desk, you may want to consider making it more comfortable and to also learn about yoga poses that address back pain. Yoga is an old system of medicine, a superb non-drug approach to tackling back pain before you reach out for the long-term use of strong painkillers. As an avid yogi myself, I've witnessed first hand how yoga has helped transform my life.

Take Responsibility for your Back Pain with Yoga

We look at a brief description of 6 yoga poses that specifically help your back and alleviate back pain, bearing in mind that each pose can be further researched for further details. Yoga Poses for Back Pain

1. One Legged King Pigeon (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana)

This pose isn’t your obvious position to treat back pain, but tight hips can help with lower back pain. Get down on your hands and knees. Bend your left knee and move your foot toward your spine. Extend both arms overhead, bend the elbows, reaching back for your foot. Repeat on the other side.

2. Extended Child’s Pose ( Utthita Balasana)

This resting pose can stretch your back and hips. Start on all fours, keeping the arms forward and then sit back so your butt rests above your heels. Hold and breathe deeply, bearing in mind that the more you extend in either direction, the more relief from pain you enjoy.

3. Cat/Cow Pose (Bitilasana)

This pose helps to massage the spine and to bring about flexibility to it. Start on all fours and alternate between arching your back as you push down on the floor with your hands and tops of your feet. Hands need to be under shoulders and your knees and feet at hip-width distance.

4. Seated Forward Bend (Paschimottanasana)

From a seated position, extend both legs forward and reach for your ankles or feet, bending at the hips. Breathing in, raise both arms above your head and stretch up. Then, breathing out, bend forward so that your chin chin moves toward the toes. Try to take hold of your toes. Return to the sitting position, breathe out and lower the arms.

5. Downward Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

This is one of the most iconic postures in yoga. Get down onto all fours, spread your fingers and make sure your feet are hip’s-width apart . Breathing out, press the floor away from you and lift your hips, pushing yourself into an upside down ‘V’ pose. Start off by bending the knees, and then, if possible, straighten the legs. Bend the knees again and lower the hips back to Table position.

6. Upward Facing Dog (Urdhvamukha Shvanasana)

Lie on your stomach and bend your elbows, dragging your palms towards your waist. With fingers spread, press down through the pads of your palm, lifting your shoulder heads away from the floor. Exhale and press your hands down, bringing your torso and legs up off the floor. Keep hips raised and then release your body back onto the floor.

Other Natural Ways to Alleviate Back Pain

Exercise your core

The muscles in your back are important for supporting your lower spine. There are a number of simple exercises that can be performed during the day, even at work during your lunch break which will work on your core muscles. Certainly, by developing stronger core muscles, you'll be less likely to injure or strain your back muscles.

Get Ergonomic!

Make sure your work space is as ergonomic as possible. Items like ergonomic office chairs and kneeling chairs all help with optimizing your sitting position to support and promote good back posture. Standing or adjustable desks have also become very popular so actually get you out of your seat when working.

Lose weight

this is because as we gain weight we put pressure on the lower spine. The weight can result in an increased arch in the spine and can even lead to compression of the discs and nerves. Lose some weight to relieve pressure on the lower spine and nerves.

Conclusion

Research and analysis have found that those suffering with long-term lower back pain and who practise the ancient Asian discipline of yoga are far more likely to reduce their back pain levels and improve their mobility. It’s a wonderful healing method, adopted by people of all ages to calm the restless mind so that the health of the body doesn’t suffer.

You've read 6 Yoga Poses to Help Alleviate Back Pain, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you've enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.