Can Yoga Help With Back Pain?

About half people who are employed in the United States have reported a back problem in the previous 12 months. That is about one in every two working person suffers from some kind of back pain. That is an incredible number! So what are the risk factors to get back pain? Here are some factors that predispose us to back pain:

1. Excess Weight
Excess weight puts additional strain on the muscles and other structures in your back and the likelihood of developing some kind of back issue increases dramatically.

2. Poor fitness
Inactive lifestyle and poor fitness cause us to lose core muscles that are vital for a healthy back. This puts too much strain on the spinal area of the back leading to back problems.

3. Stress
Stress and back pain are intimately linked. Having too much stress causes our back muscles to tense up and eventually go into spasms.

4. Poor posture
Rounded shoulders, drooping head, improper posture while standing or sitting, all increase the stress on our spinal cord. If you are young and have any kind of poor posture it is most likely that it will lead to some kind of back issue later in life.

5. Occupation
If your job requires you to remain seated for long periods or if your job requires you to bend frequently and lift weights it is likely that this may lead to back issues.

6. Age
The older we get the more likely it is that back-related issues will manifest. This is because unrelieved stress on the structures in the back will eventually lead to issues.

Those who suffer from back problems can attest that it makes their lives miserable. You want to make sure that you do not find yourself having this condition and if you already suffer from back pain you want to get out of this situation as soon as possible. Fortunately a lot of help is available: this ranges from physiotherapy to chiropractic treatment. In addition yoga is being widely recognized as something that can help with back problems. Why is this so? If you study each of the risk factors you will find that yoga will help with each of them:

1. Yoga helps shed weight. It does so by reducing stress and anxiety.
2. Yoga also helps with fitness as people with all levels of fitness can do yoga. Everybody can get started with gentle yoga that will get them moving and will help tone up unused muscles.
3. Yoga is widely known to reduce stress. Stretching of muscles also relaxes them and episodes of severe pain due to muscle spasms are reduced.
4. Yoga helps with posture. It helps strengthen your core muscles and flexes your back improving flexibility. All this helps improve posture.
5. If you have job that involves long periods of sitting you will do well if you remind yourself to take a breaks once in a while to relieve stress in your back. You may also want to sit with a good posture in a chair that supports your back. Yoga helps by strengthening your muscles in the lower back allowing you to sit for extended periods without developing back-related issues.
6. Yoga relieves stress from the muscles in your back and strengthens them. By flexing joints and relaxing them it allows blood flow and healing to take place. All this prevents back related issues from developing as you age.

If you suffer from back-related issues, you may want to consult a doctor before you start a yoga program. In addition you may want to talk to your yoga teacher about this. At the outset you may want to avoid doing forward bends till your back is fully strengthened. Another thing to take care of is to eliminate inflammatory foods from your diet.

A large number of people have found relief from back pain after starting yoga. Why not you?

Related:
Get Moving!
Lloyd’s success story in treating back pain with yoga
Yoga helps back pain

Credits:This has been written by Raj Shah and edited by Ketna Shah.