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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Yoga for back pain relief?
I have been experiencing some lower back pain/muscle tightness for the past few weeks. I have never had any back issues in the past. I was talking to my mom and she suggested I try yoga. Does yoga help with back pain? I am the most UNflexible person ever, not to mention I have a tough time decompressing and shutting my brain off anyway, so I'm not sure how I would be in a yoga class.
Re: Yoga for back pain relief?
I'm a big fan of yoga, but like you I have a hard time shutting my brain off. I love Bob Harper's Biggest Loser Yoga video because it's not at all about meditating. And since it's a video, you do it in the privacy of your home & don't have to worry about looking like a fool.
As far as whether or not it will help your back pain, it could go either way. If you have an injury, it could make it worse. But it is great for strengthening your core which can help immensely with back pain. I'd consult a doctor if I were you.
I highly recommend the book Treat Your Own Back by Robin McKenzie. A physical therapist gave it to me last year & it's great.
Yoga helped my lower back pain quite a bit. I learned in yoga that a lot of lower back pain is actually due to tension in the hips, so the hip opener positions were some of the most helpful to me. I'm also not the most flexible person and have terrible balance - but you see improvement in that surprisingly fast.
If you go to an actual yoga studio, as opposed to a class at a gym, you can take a beginners class and go at a slower pace with a more attentive instructor. The instructors almost always give examples of modifications to make a pose easier or more difficult depending upon your experience level and watch for bad form to help make sure you don't hurt yourself.
I haven't taken a class in a while and I'm really starting to miss it.
Yes. You need to strengthen your back muscles to prevent injuries and soreness. I've never taken yoga classes before but recently got into doing it on my own. We recently got Wii fit for DD and I started doing the yoga moves and I believe that has really helped my shoulder knot and neck pain. Seriously I was having pains for 2 months and its finally getting better. I've done other exercises also but I know its getting better because the muscles are getting stronger and more flexible.
I'm extremely busy working full time on little sleep and then coming home to take care of the family and house so I have a hard time decompressing too, but I have made it a point for the last week to get some exercise in. Even if its a few moves for a few minutes, it helps. Also really pay attention to your posture and use a heating pad when it's really achey.
Just to ditto what blueavocado said, make sure you take a yoga class at a studio where the instructor watches the class and talks you through, not one where they stay in the front and do the postures with the class. If your doctor suggested yoga, I would think that your "injury" is not one where yoga would hurt you but doing things wrong or pushing too far can exacerbate rather than help.
As far as not being flexible, yoga is not for flexible people. It is to help make non-flexible people flexible. And as far as not shutting off your brain, the kind of class you need is not meditative yoga. You need yoga in the form of exercise. In this kind of class, you will be busy listening to the instructor. Your brain will be on but it will be focused on the yoga and your body and figuring out what the hell you are doing. Yoga is a great work out!
I love Bikram hot yoga. It's not for everyone but the heat helps you be a little more flexible in class. It also helps the aches and pains. The teachers really instruct and correct and help. It's also the same every class so you really get to learn the correct way those postures are done and follow your own progress from class to class because you're not suddenly learning something new.
It's a great book, my GP gave it to me years ago along with my prescription to physical therapy. I prefer going to a chiropractor rather than PT (because the short term results give me more relief), but both gave me the exact same exercises to do to strengthen my core and stretch.
I can see that yoga might help because stretching helps me a lot. For me, the stretches that help when I feel like my back is getting bad are stretching my quads, hamstrings, and hip flexors. It is not intuitive that stretching things in your legs can help your lower back, but it makes a world of difference.