Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Yoga For Spine

Advertisement
Advertisement

Having a spine pain or back ache? No need to worry, as you can get rid of the pain in the spine leading to back pain and neck pain with the help of yoga.

Spine pain can occur in any of its segment like cervical spine or thoracic spine or lumbar spine. Most common complaint regarding spine pain is pain in the back (lumbar spine) and neck (cervical spine) and this can be avoided by regularly practicing yoga. Yoga poses help stretch the spine which makes it more flexible and adds strength to the muscle surround the spine that assumes responsibility of balance and controls movement of the spine.

Relieve Pain In The Cervical, Thoracic, Lumbar Spine With Yoga

Yoga helps in activating and relaxing achy muscles and leads to painless back. Yoga is one of the best medicine that works like magic and gives relief from several spinal problems. It works as a medicine that everybody can afford without any cost and get relief from any spinal problem like pain the cervical spine (neck pain), thoracic spine (upper back pain) and lumbar spine (low back pain). Although yoga poses have several benefits for the spine health but one must remember that turning or twisting the body or your spine in any awkward manner does not mean yoga, these poses have to be learnt and performed under the guidance of an expert in order to get complete benefits of it for your spinal problems. Performing yoga regularly goes a long way in making your spine more flexible and strong.

Yoga Poses For Spine Health

Cat Pose or Marjariasana For Spine

Cat Pose or Marjariasana is one of the best yoga poses for spine health as it not only stretches but also makes the spine more flexible.

The animation below explains how Cat Stretch Pose or Marjariasana is done, but here is short note on how to go about doing this exercise which can help with stretching and strengthening the cervical spine, thoracic spine as well as lumbar spine.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Cat Pose or Marjariasana For Spine
Advertisement

  • Kneel down and rest your palm on the floors as shown in the animation below.
  • Raise your chin and tilt your head up towards the ceiling, push your abdomen or the navel down such that your tailbone gets raised. This is the cat pose.
  • Hold on to this position for a couple of seconds or as long as you can while continuing to breathe normally.

Next, slowly bend your head downwards bringing you chin as close as possible to the chest, and simultaneously, raise the abdomen or the navel area away from the ground upwards such that your upper back is curved up as shown in the picture below.

Cat posture has several benefits for spinal problems. Cat posture helps in loosening the spine tissues and eliminates spine ache. Spine pain or back ache open up the vertebrae spaces, increases muscles flexibility and finally provides a good support to spine.

Cat Stretch pose or Marjariasana For Spine

Mountain Posture or Tadasana For Perfect Spinal Posture

Tadasana is one of the most easy Asana. Being easiest it is most beneficial yoga pose also. Yoga postures are itself very tough and needs lots of practice for attaining correct pose. Although Tadasana is easy but demands lots of practice for attaining correct posture. Here, Tad stands for ‘mountain’ and Asana stands for ‘pose’, thus, this is mountain pose which is done to attain mental peace and fitness. Tadasana helps in improving self confidence, strengthen mind, promotes happiness and also improves body shape. There are several other Asana that starts from Tadasana. Here, few steps are mentioned to perform this yoga-

Advertisement

Mountain Posture or Tadasana For Spine

  • First of all stand straight by joining your feet and legs together and place your both the hands in front over the thighs.
  • Now, slowly raise your hands up towards the ceiling, while inhaling deeply and resting your entire body weight on the toes with your heels being raised. Maintain this position for few seconds and then slowly bring down your arms while exhaling and resting your body again on your entire feet.
  • It is important to stand erect while doing this asana.

Mountain Posture or Tadasana For Perfect Spinal Posture

Practicing Tadasana on regular basis can eliminate spine pain. It makes your spine more flexible, improves posture, improves balance and eliminates problems related to back.

Cobra Pose or Bhujangasana for Spine

Cobra pose when done correctly can be very beneficial for people who have sedentary jobs or desk job which affects the posture of your back and neck giving rise to spinal problems.

Cobra Pose or Bhujangasana for Spine

  • Place a mat on the floor and calmly lie down straight on your abdomen (prone position).
  • Place your palm besides your armpit or below your shoulders. Now, inhale gradually and simultaneously elevate your head and upper back with your palm on the floor but make sure you do not lift the hip and legs off the ground. Make sure your head is facing the sky.
  • Hold this position as long as you can and slowly exhale and come back to the same position.

Cobra Pose or Bhujangasana for Spine Health

Spine pain can be efficiently decreased by practicing cobra pose or bhujangasana. It keeps your whole body active and reduces stiffness back and neck muscles. Cobra pose or Bhujangasana makes spine tissues stronger.

Downward Facing Dog Pose or Adho Mukha Svanasana For Spine

Adho Mukha Svanasana is an excellent yoga pose to stretch the spine and eliminating problems related to cervical and lumbar spine.

Downward Facing Dog Pose or Adho Mukha Svanasana For Spine

How To Do Downward Facing Dog Pose or Adho Mukha Svanasana?

To practice Adho Mukha Svanasana or Downward Facing Dog Pose stand on floor or on the yoga mat. Kneel on the yoga mat or floor in such a way that the whole body is supported with hands and knees on the floor. Make sure your knees are in straight line with the hips in this position. While exhaling, lift your knees far from the floor in such a way that the knees come in line with the thighs and they are not bent.  Do not lift the heel. Keep your head between your arms and make sure you are looking downwards and your head does not drop in this position. Adho Mukha Svanasana or Downward Facing Dog Pose is also a part of Surya Namaskar and it is a very helpful asana to stretch all the muscles of your body. Stay in this position for a few breaths or for a few seconds. Get back on your knees to release the asana and move your head to look upwards.

Adho Mukha Svanasana or Downward Facing Dog Pose For Spine Health

Yoga Side-Angle Pose or Utthita Parsvakonasana For Stretching and Strengthening The Spine

Yoga Side-Angle Pose or Utthita Parshvakon-Asana for Spine

Common symptoms of spine pain includes joint stiffness, stiff back, stiff neck, pain in the upper back region. Performing Side-Angle Pose or Utthita Parsvakonasana pose stretches the cervical spine, thoracic spine as well as lumbar spine and helps eliminating back problems.

How To Do Side-Angle Pose or Utthita Parshvakonasana?

How To Do Side-Angle Pose or Utthita Parshvakonasana?

To do this pose, stand with the feet about three feet apart. Raise the arms alongside yourself at shoulder level. Turn the right foot out to point away from body. Bend right knee when lunging towards right and rest the right elbow on right knee. Lean the left arm overhead. Turn the head so as to look upwards and lower down the right hand to touch ground on outside of the right foot. Now, do this for left side.

Yoga Triangle Pose or Trikonasana For Eliminating Spine Pain

Trikonasana improves the flexibility of the lumbar and thoracic spine which in turn helps relieve backache. It is also helpful for people with cervical spine problems like neck sprains by improving stiff neck..

How To Do Triangle Pose Or Trikona Asana For Spine Health?

Yoga Triangle Pose or Trikona Asana for Spine

To do this pose, go from Side-Angle Pose looking towards extended left arm. Return right elbow to rest on the right knee for support as you stretch the right leg back to a straight position. Drop the right hand back down to ground. You can feel the hips open up, the back stretch, and the legs stretching out.

How To Do Triangle Pose Or Trikona Asana For Spine Health?

Shishu-Asana or Child Pose for Stretching and Making Your Spine Flexible:

This is a stretch which provides extreme relaxation to the upper back.

The animation below explains how Child Pose or Shishuasana is done, but here is short note on how to go about doing this exercise stretches your spine.

Shishu-Asana or Child Pose for Stretching and Making Your Spine Flexible

  • Sit on your heels as shown in the image below with your hips resting on the heels. Slowly bend forward and try touching the forehead to the floor with your hands stretched forward.
  • Slowly move your hands in the direction of your feet and let it rest beside the feet.

Shishuasana or Child Pose for Spine

Summary:

Reducing spine pain like cervical pain or lumbar pain or thoracic pain is not easy but yoga is a powerful and most dependable way to eliminate spinal problems like neck pain or back pain. Spine pain causing discomfort in back and neck can last for longer time and a simple acute pain can become a chronic pain if not treated well. Yoga needs training and special focus should be given on the postures. Yoga leads to muscles stretches at the slow pace which makes spine muscles and other body muscles flexible. Regular practice of yoga keeps your spine tissues flexible. Yoga does not only cures back pain, its also has several other benefits too.

7 Best Yoga Poses for Spine Health

Also Read:

Advertisement
Team PainAssist
Team PainAssist
Written, Edited or Reviewed By: Team PainAssist, Pain Assist Inc. This article does not provide medical advice. See disclaimer
Last Modified On:October 20, 2022

Recent Posts

Related Posts

Advertisement