Top 5 Yoga Poses For Back Pain!

Kelly Tovar not only is one of our amazing employees, but she is a GREAT Yoga Instructor and truly has a passion for Yoga and the health benefits associated with it.  In this Blog Post, she shares her top 5 poses for Back Pain!  If you are having Back Pain, please be careful with performing these exercises and consult a Physical Therapist if you have any pain while doing them. 

Does your back pain stop you from doing the things you want? Yoga can be a great tool to help heal and improve back pain. You may have wondered what Yoga is or why so many people are using it to get healthier.  Yoga has been around for a long time and it continues to be popular because it works!

Yoga can be a great way to workout or calm down, but it can also be utilized to help with pain, balance metabolism, increase flexibility, prevent injury and so much more! One of the main reasons I love yoga is because of the many benefits I see when I do it consistently. Before I learned yoga, I would come home from work with an aching back and neck. Through my own experience of practicing yoga for 4 years I have found some yoga poses and stretches that are helpful in relieving my back pain.  Hopefully they will help you too!

Here are my top 5 yoga poses to help with Back Pain:

  1. Cat and Cow
  • Start on your hands and knees, making sure to keep your knees hip width apart, and stacking your shoulders over your wrists.
  • Keeping a straight neutral spine, keeping your neck in line with your spine, look at the floor. As you exhale push into your shoulder blades, rounding your spine towards the ceiling, relaxing your head towards the floor.
  • As you inhale lift your chest and pelvis towards the ceiling, letting your stomach sink towards the ground.
  • Cat and cow are actually two separate poses, but they are usually used together to help bring mobility to the spine. Complete this exercise 10 times.
  1. Extended Puppy Pose

 

  • Starting on your hands and knees, making sure your wrists are stacked under your shoulders, and your knees under your hips, keeping a neutral spine.
  • As you exhale move your hands forward a few inches in front of you, and bring your hips back and up, relax your forehead to the floor (you can add a blanket to go under your forehead for comfort).
  • You want to keep a slight curve in your lower back as you push your hips back, creating a nice stretch for your back. Hold for 10 breaths

 

  1. Downward dog
  • Starting on your hands and knees, making sure your knees are under your hips and wrists are stacked under your shoulder. Spread your fingers out keeping pressure throughout your hands.
  • As you exhale lift your knees off the ground, pushing into your heels, taking your hips towards the ceiling. Straighten your knees, making sure not to lock them. Pushing your shoulders down away from your ears, relax your head down, looking towards your belly button. Hold for 5 breaths.

 

  1. Forward Fold
  • Standing straight up with feet hips distance apart, inhale and bring your arms above your head and as you exhale hinge at your hips, keeping a straight back bend forward. If possible keep your knees straight (it’s fine to have them bent, our focus here is keeping the back straight as you come down) bringing your hands to the floor or cross your arms holding your elbows.
  • Keeping your head relaxed, with every inhale lengthen your spine a bit more and as you exhale try to go a (tiny) bit deeper into the fold.

 

  1. Marichi’s Pose
  • Sitting on the ground with your legs in front of you, bend your right knee and place your foot firmly on the ground, as close to your sitting bone as possible.
  • As you inhale elongate your spine and with your exhale rotate your torso to the right bringing your left arm around the right thigh, using your left arm to hold your thigh. Bring your right hand back behind you with your rotation, with each inhale elongate the spine and with your exhale try to rotate a bit more. Hold for 10 breaths. Repeat on the left side.

 

As you do these yoga poses make sure you are listening to your body. I would recommend only doing ones that feel good to you, if you have questions please call or email us! I love yoga and the health benefits you can receive from doing it regularly.

Kelly Tovar
Yoga Specialist
Utah Physical Therapy – Lehi