Back problems are often a hazard, making it difficult to do the common things that most take for granted: lift objects, bend down, or even sitting in a cushy armchair. While GPs recommend diets, pills, and hospital treatments to help cope with enduring symptoms, more and more people have been turning to non-western approaches to help them overcome their problems. Why? Because they work. One alternative technique has been particularly popular for back pain sufferers: yoga.
How does it work?
There are many types of yoga: there are gentle forms that help calm the mind and body, and there are more psychically demanding types that serve as a great workout. Yoga works to help you improve your posture, your alignment, and gain a greater awareness of your body, doing so through a combination of breathing exercises and poses.
Osteopaths and yoga experts recommend a style that is known as hatha yoga for people who are suffering from back problems, as it is one of the gentlest forms that involves careful stretches, easy breathing exercises, and practices of the basic yoga poses. They discourage yoga variations such as Bikram and Ashtanga, as they can be hard on the back. Hatha yoga can make it easier to recover quickly from back problems such as Sciatica, Osteoarthritis and Fibromyalgia, and can also prevent them from occurring in the first place.
What you can do
Here are some hatha exercises you can follow to increase your backs strength and flexibility, while soothing some of the worst pain:
1) Begin with some stretches before moving on to the more complicated poses. Get into the Mountain Pose: stand up straight with your feet touching, balancing the weight of your body over the feet evenly. Keep your arms at your sides, slightly pressed into the body. Tighten your buttocks and stomach muscles but maintain a firm posture. Whole holding the pose, breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth.
2) Crescent Moon Pose: this pose strengthens your back, legs, and shoulders, helping you build extra stamina. Complete it in two steps:
Kneel down onto your knees and keep a straight back. Take a step forward with your right foot until the foot is a little past your right knee. Keep the leg parallel to the floor.
Stretch both arms above your head, hooking the thumbs together. Keeping your balance, slowly lift your left knee off the floor, stretch out the leg, and make sure your weight is spread evenly over both the front and leg. Pay attention to keeping your chest low, otherwise you create a hollow in your back.
3) The Child Pose: this pose helps you stretch your spine, hips, and thighs, and should help alleviate the psychical and emotional stresses in your body. Carry it out in three steps:
Kneel down separating your knees, and sit on your feet with your feet pointing outwards.
Now, carefully place your forehead on the floor and swing both arms forward, around the head at the height of the ears.
With your head still touching the floor, bring your arms around to your sides, palms facing upwards.
This non-western approach can therefore be a great supplement or alternative to the treatments that are commonly adopted in the UK. As long as you take great care when carrying out each pose, hatha yoga can make you feel fitter and younger.
