Monday, November 11, 2013

Discover How to Ease Lower Back Pain with Yoga

Chronic back pain affects millions of people around the world. The main reason for this is the sedentary lives we lead. People in our current day and age exercise a lot less than they used to. They also engage in activities that our predecessors never dreamed of.

We sit at our desks the whole day staring at the computer. We sit while driving to work. We sit more than ever before. Sitting for too long is one of the major causes of back pain.

To understand why we have back pain, you’ll need to have an idea how our spinal column is structured. The vertebral column is comprised of vertebral bones and soft, spongy discs. These gel like discs are between the hard bones. They act as a cushion to prevent the bones from rubbing against each other.

When you are seated for too long or lean forwards or backwards too often for long periods, the gel gets squished disproportionately to the front or back. The cushion is no longer well aligned. Once this occurs, the disc will get swollen and hurt. If the swelling presses up against a nerve, the pain is much worse.

Due to a lack of exercise and stretching, our muscles also become tighter and less flexible. When your hamstrings are tight, the muscles on the lower back become strained because they have to compensate for the tight hamstrings just to keep the back straight. This constant strain will cause back pain.

Yoga is excellent for solving all these problems, making you more flexible, ensuring that your body is well aligned and balanced.

Your yoga session must have a balanced proportion of poses. Those suffering from back pain will want to avoid overdoing the forward bends or other moves that hurt the back further. Pain is not gain here.

It would be a good idea to inform your yoga instructor and let them know of your condition and they’ll be able to recommend specific poses that will ease the pressure on your beck and alleviate your pain.

By practicing these poses daily, you will strengthen your core muscles and stretch out your other muscles. Strong core muscles will mean that your back muscles are not constantly strained trying to maintain your posture.

Yoga will also help you to lose weight in the long run. If you are carrying excess weight, this will always be beneficial since less weight will be on your joint and spinal discs. The joints will not hurt or be susceptible to injury easily. When the discs are in good order, your back pain for the most part will slowly disappear.

The different poses and breathing techniques will help improve circulation to send nutrient rich blood to parts of your body that badly need it. Like between your joints, discs, etc. Toxins will also be flushed out. Your health will get better with yoga.

The beauty about yoga is that even those with back pain can do it slowly and in a controlled manner. The same can’t be said of other forms of exercise such as cardio or resistance training. So, if you have back pain, yoga is your discipline of choice. Do it and reap the benefits.

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