Most back pain is preventable, according to the American Chiropractic Association. The easiest ways to prevent it include physical activity balanced with stretching, proper posture and maintaining a healthy weight. Yoga poses may be able to help you avoid and reduce back pain as well as bring awareness to how you hold your posture. See your doctor if your back pain is severe or prolonged.
Poses to Target the Source
Back pain often generates from tightness in the hips or from hunching or rounding of the upper back and shoulders. If your knees won't splay out when you try to sit in a seated, cross-legged position, then your lower half may be tight. Hip-opening yoga poses such as bound angle, pigeon, crescent lunge and forward bend may stretch out the tension which is tightening your back muscles. If you find it painful to draw your shoulder blades together and clasp your hands behind your back, then your posture may be out of balance. Cow-face pose, chest expansion and camel pose may help open your chest and upper back muscles.
Easy Stretches
If you have access to an inflated, balance ball, then try wheel pose to open the front side of your body and rest your back. Sit on the ball with your feet flat on the floor. Lean back and rest your back on the ball. Reach your arms straight back to the floor. Keep your feet on the ground and breathe deeply for 10 to 15 breaths.
Cat and cow pose is a popular combination to release pain in the upper and lower back. Start on your hands and knees. Let your belly relax toward the floor as your tailbone tilts upward for cow pose. Round your spine toward the ceiling to switch to cat pose. Inhale back into cow, and then exhale back to cat. Switch between the two poses for 10 to 12 sets.
Deeper Release
Twisting poses can open your chest and stretch your shoulders and spine, according to Yoga Journal. Sit tall on the floor with your left leg extended and your right foot in toward your groin with your knee pointed up. Turn so your torso faces the inside of your right thigh and put your right palm on the floor behind you. Hold your right knee by wrapping your left arm around it. Hold on each side for 10 to 15 breaths.
Hips and Upper Back
Combine pigeon pose and thread the needle to stretch your hips and upper back. Put your lower right leg on the floor facing forward with your left leg extended behind you. Fold your torso toward the floor, over your right leg, and extend your right arm with your right palm on the floor. Slide your left arm under your right so both arms form an L-shape. Switch to your opposite leg and arm combination. Hold each side for up to one minute.
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