Yoga for Lower Back Pain: Relieve Discomfort and Restore Mobility

Can yoga help with lower back pain? If you or a loved one have experienced this incredibly common condition, you know just how painful it can be. This widespread problem can severely impact daily activities, but regular yoga for lower back pain can relieve and improve overall quality of life. This article explains how.

How Common is Lower Back Pain?

After spending two weeks driving on a cross-country road trip, my husband sneezed and immediately doubled over in the greatest pain he’d ever experienced in his life. With his back in continuous spasms, he could barely talk and could not walk. I’m not a doctor, but I had a gut feeling he’d just developed a herniated disc. To both of our disappointment, I was right. 

Before this happened, I had always heard how bad lower back pain could be. But I didn’t understand how debilitating it can be until I saw it firsthand. Not all back pain is as intense as a herniated disc, but it’s incredibly common. It can affect everything from the quality of sleep and the ability to work to the ability to play with your children. According to the NIH, up to 80 percent of adults will experience back pain at some point in their lives, making this the leading cause of disability globally. Although yoga can rarely permanently heal lower back pain, practicing regularly can help. 

Common Culprits of Lower Back Pain

While it’s never the job of yoga teachers to diagnose the cause of a student’s lower back pain, if a student knows the culprit, this can be extremely helpful in allowing teachers to effectively tailor the practice to the student’s needs. A herniated disc is a very different condition from a back that simply feels stiff or tight in the morning, and the type of yoga practice that will benefit them will also differ.

While there are too many types of back pain for us to cover in this article, there are several you will likely hear your students mention if you teach yoga:       

1. Muscle Strain or Sprain: This is often caused by lifting heavy objects improperly or sudden movements, resulting in overstretching or tearing of muscles or ligaments in the lower back. 
2. Sciatica: This pain radiates along the path of the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower back through the hips and buttocks down each leg. This pain can vary widely, from a mild ache to a sharp, burning sensation.
3. Herniated Disc: This occurs when the soft center of a spinal disc pushes through a crack in its tougher exterior, causing pain by pressing on nerves in the spine.
4. Lower Back Pain Related to Aging: Normal aging leads to wear and tear of the spine—disc degeneration and spinal stenosis, or the narrowing of the spinal canal—both of which can lead to lower back pain.
5. Pregnancy-Related Back Pain: Experiencing discomfort in the pelvis or lower back is incredibly common during pregnancy. This is usually caused by carrying additional weight, changes in the center of gravity, and the loosening of ligaments and joints due to hormonal changes. As a prenatal yoga teacher, this is the most common type of lower back pain I encounter in students.

For each of these causes of lower back pain, pain can be exacerbated by lack of sleep, sitting for extended periods of time, technology use, stress, and emotional state. While this list is not exhaustive, it can be helpful to learn about each of these conditions to sequence safely and effectively for students experiencing lower back pain. 

Lower Back Pain Yoga Poses to Avoid

Working alongside a physical therapist can provide students with specific guidance on which poses to modify or avoid depending on the cause of their lower back pain. As yoga teachers, we can refer students to physical therapists and work closely with the information they provide. However, it’s important to know that for most types of lower back pain, deep flexion or extension can make pain worse. In other words, instructing students into deep backbends like Bow Pose (Dhanurasana) or Camel Pose (Ustrasana) or forward folds like Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana) can leave them feeling worse than when they entered the yoga studio.   

We can emphasize strength and stability rather than pushing students into deep stretches. Often, the psoas and posterior core muscles are weak in students with lower back pain. As yoga teachers, we can guide them into postures that will strengthen these supportive muscles. We can also encourage them to maintain a normal curve of the lumbar spine in postures to avoid overstretching. 

10-Minute Gentle Morning Yoga Sequence for Lower Back Pain

Ready to practice? If you, a family member, or student you work experience lower back pain, having this short sequence on hand may benefit you. Remember this sequence doesn’t replace the guidance of medical providers or physical therapists who have worked directly with the student. 

Always listen to your body when practicing yoga with lower back pain. If you are experiencing acute, intense back pain, such as back spasms or a recent strain or sprain, the best practice is simply to rest and reduce inflammation. But once the inflammation has subsided, these postures can be practiced from bed before you get up in the morning. 

1. Bird Dog Pose

   

   Bird Dog (Parsva Balasana) is a pose that builds strength in the posterior core and can be practiced at several different levels of challenge.

   a. To begin, come Tabletop Pose (Bharmanasana). Extend your left leg behind you, starting with your toes tucked under. You can either stay here or use your exhalation to lift your left leg off the ground.

   b. Either keep your right hand grounded or, on an exhalation, lift your right hand forward as if you’re reaching out to shake someone’s hand in front of you.

   c. Pause with your leg and arm lifted, and draw your navel toward your spine with each exhalation. Stay here for about 5 breaths.

   d. Release the pose on an exhalation, and take a few slow rounds of Cat/Cow Pose (Marjaryasana/Bitilasana) before switching to the second side. 

    

2. Viparita Karani Variation:

   

   This variation of Viparaita Karani (Legs Up the Wall) is an accessible way to strengthen the psoas.

   a. To begin, lie on your back with your knees bent and arms alongside you, palms facing down toward the earth. 

   b. Lift both legs straight up toward the ceiling and pause here for a breath or two. (shown above with a block)

   c. Either stay here if this is enough of a challenge or begin to make small circles with both legs in a clockwise direction.

   d. After ten circles, switch directions, making ten circles counterclockwise. 

   e. When complete, gently release, placing your feet back down on the bed or yoga mat.

3. Apanasana (Knees-to-Chest Pose)

   

   This pose gently stretches the psoas and can be done in several different variations, depending on what works best for your body at the moment.

   a. Lying on your back, begin by drawing your left knee into the chest, either placing your hands around the back of the thigh or the front of the shin. Either keep the right knee bent with the sole of the foot grounded or extend the right leg forward with the heel touching the mat or bed. 

   b. Pause here, gently rocking the left leg side to side as you breathe.

   c. Either stay here or add a hamstring stretch, extend the left leg straight up to the sky, interlacing your hands around the back of the thigh. 

   d. Stay here for 5 breaths before gently releasing and switching to the second side.

   e. As an optional variation, this can be repeated with 1 to 2 pillows placed under the sacrum to deepen the stretch of the psoas.  

4. Yoga for Lower Back Pain: Constructive Rest

   

   This is a gentle, accessible pose for students with lower back pain that gently releases the psoas.

   a. Come into constructive rest by bending your knees, knocking your knees in, and taking your feet out wide.

   b. Pause here, breathing diaphragmatically for about 2 minutes, or longer if desired, before beginning your day.

So, did yoga heal my husband’s herniated disc? Not quite yet. While the issue remains chronic for him, gentle stretching and strengthening are a crucial daily part of how he keeps the pain at bay. Although it can be debilitating, with consistent, mindful practice, yoga can help lower back discomfort and strengthen supportive muscles to promote an active lifestyle.