The health of our back impacts our well-being in numerous ways. Anyone suffering from back pain has experienced just how debilitating back pain can be. As recurring discomfort turns everyday tasks into painful chores, a person’s mood, energy, and well-being often gets affected as well.

Yoga therapy targeting back pain is showing promise as a new, alternative treatment for back pain. Back problems often originate in the soft tissues, and as a consequence, the most effective back pain treatments are typically non-surgical and non-prescriptive, targeting the soft tissues instead. Yoga offers therapy for back pain, because it helps relieve chronic tension and tightness in the soft tissues, addressing back pain at its root.

In a 2005 study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, yoga exercises for back pain were found to provide more effective pain relief than a combination of exercise and proper back care. Back pain yoga has also been recommended by the American College of Physicians and the American Pain Society as a measure for treating persistent back pain.

Yoga can help relieve low back pain, shoulder, or neck pain in four major ways:

1. Yoga tones and strengthens weak muscles. Yoga is particularly effective for toning and strengthening the body’s core muscles, which are critical for creating proper support for the spine and giving the back greater strength and stability. By increasing core stability and improving posture, yoga exercises for back pain decrease the pressure on the spine, a key element in creating lasting back-pain relief.

2. Yoga improves flexibility. Yoga stretches for back pain increase flexibility in a balanced manner, in turn removing the strain caused by muscle groups tugging the spine out of alignment. Many back pain problems arise from too-tight muscles pulling on vertebrae at unnatural angles. Yoga offers natural back pain relief by stretching out these muscles, relieving the pressure.

3. Yoga enhances circulation. Yoga also relieves back pain naturally by increasing the flow of oxygen and nutrient-rich blood to the soft tissues around the spine. By alternating compression and release of pressure, yoga postures create a pump to flood the body with oxygen-rich blood, clear out toxins and deliver vital nutrients to the soft tissues. For people who sit at computers all day, this is particularly helpful, as prolonged sitting will lead to compression of the spine and restricted blood flow. Yoga stretches relieve back pain by decompressing the spine and improving circulation to the vertebrae and vertebral discs.

4. Yoga relieves stress. Stress leads to chronic tightness in the soft tissues, which is often a factor in back pain. Yoga helps relieve back pain by creating greater relaxation and inner calmness. The stresses of modern life can trap our body in a constant “fight or flight” mode, in which muscles and soft tissues tighten up. Chronic tightness in the soft tissues of the neck and back can cause back pain, neck tension, and even tension headaches. By inducing greater relaxation in body and mind, yoga shifts the body from a “fight or flight” mode into the rejuvenating “rest and digest” state, in which the body can begin to heal itself.

Like any holistic healing modality, yoga isn’t just useful for relieving chronic back pain, it offers numerous other therapeutic benefits. Yoga enhances the flow of vital energy in the body, and this in turn improves our overall health. For this reason, someone who starts practicing yoga to get natural relief for back pain may also find that they have more energy, greater emotional balance and overall greater well-being.

Click here to learn more about yoga exercises for back pain or download a yoga practice for back pain to experience for yourself how to relieve back pain with yoga.

categories: yoga,back pain,fitness,health