It is common to talk about toned abs, legs, and arms. But rarely do we discuss strengthening our spines – the “BACKBONE” of the body. A strong and flexible spine is a health asset that needs to be retained for a healthy life.
The spine helps in maintaining correct posture, improving balance, and avoiding injuries. Unhealthy back muscles can cause stiffness, minor aches, and pains. If these symptoms are left untreated, they can cause serious health issues.
In today’s life, a job with long sitting hours in a small cubicle with artificial lights is typical. Long hours with incorrect posture and less exposure to sunlight affect the spine badly, which ultimately causes lower back pain.
So, what’s the natural remedy? The answer is Yoga.
Yes, we should practice Yoga for lower back pain relief.
But before we talk about the Yoga asanas, let’s understand the major movements of the spine. These are the movements which we do daily.
Let’s look at the spine movements:
- Flexion: A bending movement that decreases the angle between a segment and its proximal segment, which rounds the spine forward.
- Extension: This straightening movement increases the angle between body parts, which rounds the spine backward.
- Rotation: This movement involves moving the bone around its longitudinal axis.
- Side bending: This movement helps in lateral flexion of the spine.
- Axial extension: This movement decompresses and vertically elongates the spine.
Now let’s talk about the 5 Yoga asanas for back pain and strengthening the spine.
- Mountain Pose: This is the best asana for beginners as it is a simple standing pose. It is helpful in the improvement of body posture and curvature. It brings excellent results in strengthening hips and thigh muscles.
- Warrior Pose: In this asana, take the position of a warrior to strengthen your lower body muscles. This pose is helpful for the knees, thigh muscles, and hips muscles. It also opens the chest and the shoulders and stretches the back and leg muscles.
- Triangle Pose: This asana helps in improving the body equilibrium. It helps in stretching the spine. It opens up the chest and the shoulders and reduces tension on the hip and thigh muscles.
- Lord of the Fishes Pose: This asana focuses entirely on improving spinal health. It provides added compression and extension to the nerves and muscles, which support the back. This asana helps reduce the stiffness and pain in the spinal muscles.
- Grasshopper Pose: This deep backbend asana helps strengthen the muscles of the entire torso from the nape of the neck, spine, chest, and legs to the back of the heels.
All these above simple yet beneficial Yoga asanas can be performed in the comfort of your home. However, if you need expert guidance and supervision, you can enroll in online Yoga classes conducted by one of the best Yoga professionals in North Carolina. For more information, visit www.anjanayoga.com