Restorative Yoga for back pain: simple side bend to the rescue
Restorative Yoga for back pain combats the effects of sitting and stress on your body and mind
Is the pandemic giving you back pain?
It's too early for a lot of definitive data on how pandemic life has contributed to trends in musculoskeletal disorders, but safe to say that stress and longer periods spent sitting (on Zoom) are likely to deliver an increase in back pain.
The simple answer is to get up and move around more, and practice stress reduction techniques, and Restorative Yoga has an important role to play in maintaining a happy, healthy spine. One of my favourite poses to relieve pain and pressure, particularly in the low back, is Simple Side Bend, which you can do over a yoga bolster or pillow from your bed (if you have a lot of pain, less is more here).
Lateral flexion (side bending) is one of the least common spinal movements we tend to do (or, we do it asymmetrically while slouching on the couch watching TV) but when we do it in a gentle, supported way such as this, it can relieve pressure on your back by inviting space back in between the vertebrae.
Try Simple Side Bend as outlined in my book, Restorative Yoga for Beginners, for 2-4 minutes each side after you've been sitting a while and see if you enjoy some of the benefits below.
Benefits
Gently stretches your obliques, latissimus dorsi and intercostal muscles
Gently decompresses your spine
Invites your breath to deepen
Supports and maintains your spine in normal, healthy lateral flexion
Helps relieve low back pain
Encourages feelings of fluidity and malleability
How to do it
Sit on your right hip with your knees bent and feet tucked behind you and bring the long edge of the bolster up against your right thigh.
Roll up the blanket and place it on the other side of the bolster with a small gap in between.
Lay your right side over the bolster, placing your right shoulder in the gap between the bolster and the blanket. Release your right arm out in front of you and rest your head on the blanket.
Rest your left arm on your side or draw it up alongside your left ear for a little more length.
Remain in the side bend for three to five minutes. To exit, place your left hand onto the bolster and press yourself up. Leave the props as they are and turn yourself around to your left hip to repeat the pose on the second side.
