If your lower back occasionally feels achy, tight or heavy, this blog is for you. Your back pain does not have to be serious for it to be really draining. It can be tedious when tight lower back muscles prevent you from enjoying your usual exercise, and from sitting, standing or walking with ease. The tightness may also be there when you get up in the morning. This blog discusses three yoga movements that can ease lower back tightness when practised regularly. It also looks at possible causes for lower back tightness, because it is never a condition in itself.
Like back pain, lower back tightness is not a condition in itself. There is always a cause that needs to be addressed in order to relieve the lower back tightness properly. Straightforward reasons can be related to lifestyle, posture and movement habits. A sedentary lifestyle or bad posture, for example, can burden and overwork the lower back muscles. Having said that, tight lower back muscles can also be the first sign of a more serious structural problem. The muscles may have tightened to protect the spinal joints or sacroiliac joints from becoming unstable, Because tight muscles are neihter strong nor resilient, they will not be able to protect the joints forever.
While the practices below can relieve lower back tightness, it’s important to look at the body as a whole, and see which imbalance may have caused the muscles to be chronically contracted. For example, are the abdominal muscles weak, the shoulders rounded, the leg muscles unusually tight due to a knee issue? Long-term emotional or mental stress can also exacerbate muscle tightness. This is why yoga therapy can be particularly helpful. Not only does it look at the whole physical body, but it can start a deeper healing process as well. To find out more, don’t hesitate to book a free consultation call with me here: https://beneyoga.co.uk/book-a-free-consultation-call/.
Yoga movements to ease lower back tightness
Do the gentle movements described below regularly to find effective relief, but stop if they are hurting you. There may be an underlying condition for your back tightness that requires a different approach and set of practices.
The exercises are not for you if your lower back muscles have ‘seized up’ and it is very painful to move. Likewise, they are not for you if you have pain, numbness or tingling sensations going down one leg. You may have a disc problem and/or pinched nerve rather than mere lower back tightness, and the practices below could make it worse. Instead, check out this blog about yoga for a herniated or slipped disc: https://beneyoga.co.uk/yoga-therapy-for-herniated-discs/ and see if you can get a doctor’s diagnosis. For a herniated disc, and indeed for other complicated back issues, individual sessions with a specialised yoga therapist can be very helpful.
From all fours to child’s pose
This movement stretches the back muscles gently.
Start on all fours, with the knees hip-width apart and the hands underneath the shoulders.
Exhale and move the hips towards the feet. They can touch the feet or not. The importance is that your back muscles get a gentle stretch. Inhale, and return to all fours. Keep looking down to avoid arching the back of your neck.
Repeat about 5 times.
The movement also stretches the shoulders, hips, knees and feet. If your feet are tight, you may want to use a rolled towel underneath the ankles.
Knee to chest movement
Turn around to lie on your back. If your neck is tight use a pillow under your head.
Bring both knees up to your chest and place one hand on each knee. When you exhale, allow the legs to come a little closer to the chest without curling the pelvis off the floor. When you inhale, return the legs to the starting position.
Resist pulling on your legs with the arms. Repeat for a minute or so in coordination with your breath. This is a gentle way to release tension in the muscles along the spine.
Twist
A twist can relieve mild back pain and is also good for core engagement. Work gently and with the breath:
Bend your legs and place the feet hip-width apart on the mat, your arms straight out to the side. With an exhalation move the legs to one side, keeping the sides of the feet together. The soles of the feet will come off the mat. Inhale and return them to the centre, exhale and lower them to the other side. You can turn the head each time to look over to the other side, opposite to the legs.
The idea is to keep both shoulder blades on the floor, so your knees may not reach the floor. This is not a problem. Forcing the body in a position is counterproductive, so please honour your limits and you will be surprised by a more rapid change.
Repeat about 5 times to each side.
Rest with the legs bent
Finally, take 10 minutes to rest with your legs bent. Please use a cushion under the head if your neck is tight. The traditional rest position at the end of a yoga class is with the legs straight. However, in most cases of lower back tightness, this isn’t beneficial, Essentially, the straight-leg position increases the lumbar arch and this can tighten the lower back muscles. When you bend your legs, the feet a comfortable distance away from the body, the lower back can relax more. Furthermore, with the legs bent your abdomen is more relaxed and abdominal breathing will be easier.
Do share your thoughts and experience below. And if you would like more individual help for your specific back issue, please have a look at my back care package.
Namaste!
