The art and tradition of Yoga stems over 5000 years BC, and are composed of spiritual movement patterns, relaxation, meditation and controlled body movements, evolving into benefits of pain relief today. It was once thought to be solely an Eastern spiritual art but has grown to achieve great popularity over the past 20 years in the U.S. Over the past decade many women have connected with yoga as a great form of movement to alleviate tension in the lower back muscles, reduce stress, and improve overall flexibility. In more recent times this art has moved into the category of therapeutic wellness exercises for women with low back pain after giving birth, after a back injury, and due to weight gain from a stressful event. Our western approach to health and wellness preaches the need for research to validate that an intervention is truly effective and safe to do. There is now an abundance of yoga research studies targeting the benefits of yoga in improving pain in the lower back.

In a November 2009 journal released by Harvard Health Medical School it states, " According to a study in the journal Spine (Sept. 1, 2009), yoga therapy can reduce pain and functional impairment in people with chronic (lasting more than three months) low back pain. This condition is notoriously difficult to treat, and not surprisingly, one of the most commonly reported reasons for turning to alternative and complementary therapies."

Yoga has many unique benefits that helps to ward off that nagging pain in the back. On April 30th 2018 in a Harvard Health Blog it states, "The practice helps to stretch and strengthen muscles that support the back and spine, such as the paraspinal muscles that help you bend your spine, the multifidus muscles that stabilize your vertebrae, and the transverse abdominis in the abdomen, which also helps stabilize your spine." In addition, the amazing thing about yoga is that it targets back strengthening, stretching and core spine posture within a single routine of exercise poses. Those are key benefits for women who are seeking to avoid the recurrence of low back pain, while regaining confidence in their movements, and returning to handle a multitude of daily responsibilities.

Another great benefit to yoga is how it can be tailored to every woman's physical levels and previous type of back pain. There are a multitude of yoga types as well as poses and levels of difficulty that can be applied to the poses. For instance in Iyengar yoga assistive aids (such as foam blocks, towels, and straps) are used to provide added support for beginners, women with core muscle weakness and limited flexibility. Because of this attention to detail and the modification of poses, Iyengar yoga is often a good form of yoga for people with back pain or neck pain, as they are likely to benefit from modification to the poses. However, improvement is often seen relatively fast if staying consistent with a regimen over time. This gradually leads to an amazing change in the way a woman feels and a feeling of confidence to transition to Hatha yoga (without using assistive props).

The regular practice of Hatha Yoga enhances strength, flexibility, and balance and may offer some light to moderate aerobic conditioning as well, depending on the style practiced. Other benefits can be gained from incorporating breathwork and meditation as part of a Hatha Yoga practice. Hatha yoga tends to require holding positional poses and moving slowly to control each pose. Often the stretch of the pose is emphasized in each pose. Now if you feel ready and feel the need to move faster through the flow of poses then Vinyasa yoga is a better style of choice. Vinyasa uses many of the same poses as Hatha but the movement patterns are faster with a flowing motion. Starting with Vinyasa yoga may be a challenge after recovering from back pain but many people tend to choose it as their favorite style once they are acclimated to yoga.

Iyengar, Hatha, and Vinyasa tend to be 3 of the most effective styles of yoga when recovering from back pain and maintaining lower back wellness. There are other yoga styles with health benefits as well. Since the focus of this article was related to back pain recovery and maintenance we will discuss other styles of yoga in a future blog series.

References:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/yoga-therapy-helps-relieve-chronic-lower-back-pain
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/yoga-and-back-pain-2018041413652
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4878447/