DO YOU HAVE lower back pain? Are you considering drugs or surgery to help manage the pain? Before you go down that path check out this article!
Lower back pain for this article is defined to mean pain caused by herniated discs in the lower back or sacro-iliac joint pain or over-extension. In both cases the following information will be relevant and helpful to allow the pain to disappear.
Many people complain of lower back pain in their daily life. As a result of their pain many people are advised to attend Yoga classes and this advice is often very helpful, with many students attending either face to face classes or online, and feeling great benefits with a lessening of their pain.
While many people are indeed helped a great deal with their lower back pain by attending regular yoga classes there are also many students who actually have a worsening of their pain and symptoms due to yoga practice. This is due to a fundamental relationship between certain types of yoga poses and the lower back pain that they experience.
Many people who practice yoga and even those who do not do yoga often do a series of forward bending actions to try to alleviate their pain and even report feeling a ‘good stretch’ when undergoing these types of actions. What is not recognized is that these feeling of a good stretch are actually the very actions responsible for the aggravation and thus perpetuation of their back pain.
Forward Bends are The Problem for Lower Back Pain
While it may seem counter-intuitive for many people who do forward bend postures to try to help their back pain, the simple fact is that forward bending postures are the real problem for people who have pain. Bending backwards is fine for lower back pain, while forward bending creates a stress and strain on the lower back that makes the pain endure for long periods of time.
As somebody who has worked with many students and helped them eliminate their lower back pain, I have created sequences designed specifically for cases that are involving both severe and less severe levels of pain. All the complete sequences can be found in the Lower Back Bible. In this article I am presenting the fundamental poses and sequence structure to help almost anyone get rid of their back pain without drugs or surgery.
The Key Anatomical Relationship for Lower Back Pain
What is most important to understand and even to visualize is the relationship between the hamstrings, the pelvis, pelvic rotation and the stress to the lower back with forward bending actions. The Hamstrings are attached to the sitting bones which are the bottom of the pelvis. All forward bending actions in order to be safe must have pelvic rotation. When the hamstrings are tight pelvic rotation is limited and the stress and strain go to the lower back. This is the genesis and the perpetuation of lower back pain and so poses that safely focus on the lengthening of the hamstrings are the key poses to help alleviate and eliminate lower back pain forever.
Most Important Poses for Lower Back Pain
- Down Dog with Leg Up
The Downward Dog posture that raises one leg off the ground is a very effective posture to open the hamstrings.
- Warrior 3 Using a Wall
By using a wall for the arms and not being concerned with the balancing aspect of the Warrior 3 poses it becomes possible to isolate the hamstrings to stretch them safely.
- Supine Pull on Straight Leg
Lying on the back and using a strap around the foot and then pulling on the straight and strong leg is the best way to isolate the hamstrings without aggravating the lower back.
Fred Busch
Author: The Lower Back Bible; The Medellin Wellness Protocol
If you have any questions about Lower Back Pain or for more information of Fred Busch’s Power Yoga and Meditation Teacher Trainings, and where the Fred Busch Yoga Therapy is taught as a complete system for healing injuries, feel free to contact the author at:
fredbusch@miamiyoga.com or Whatsapp +13056062169
