New here! A question about back pain and yoga

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hi everyone! I’m Ari, and happy to be at such an active knowledgeable community!

I’ve been doing yoga on and off (unfortunately) for the last 3-4 years. I started out in college taking several Iyengar yoga classes. I’m 23 now, still petite and of a healthy weight (I’m mostly vata, some pitta), but my back tends to be very sensitive and I have quite a few tension knots in my shoulders that I’m hoping to take care of since I started yoga again. This time, I will stick to it!

Even when I took Iyengar yoga in a class, I would have this problem: I can’t do corpse pose after practice! The teacher would help everyone to adjust and make sure poses were done correctly, but even then, my lower back would start to hurt and be irritated during corpse pose.

My back is completely fine after yoga, and I find I can do corpse pose to relax if I do “legs up the wall” for several minutes first. I still don’t totally understand why this happens, perhaps I am over-bending?. I’ve been told I tend to keep my hips too far back when standing, and I’ve been trying to correct that bad posture.

I’ve been doing yoga a few times a week for the last month or so. I feel great- lighter, freer, and happier! But still, can’t do corpse pose without putting my legs up the wall first. I’m fine other than my usual shoulder tension!

My at-home morning practice looks like this (Feel free to critique or suggest alternate or new poses! Thanks!):
Sitting forward bend - touch toes
Cow Face pose
Riding Camel pose? (something from a class, it is like cat pose, but you are seated/cross-legged, involves rolling the shoulders and back)
Cat pose
Plank pose
Sun salutation (1x)(bending back, bending forward, right/left lunges, cobra pose, downward facing dog, repeated for left and right sides of body)
Triangle pose
Warrior pose II
Tree pose

I do these half of the time I do yoga (contingent on having enough time!):
Eagle Pose
Crow pose (precursor to crane pose, trying to build arm strength)
Headstand (supported by a wall, but I can do it quite gracefully now with almost no touching the wall)
Child pose
Plow pose
Supported Shoulderstand

Finishing (Always!): Legs up the wall, sometimes corpse pose

Doing supported headstand irritates my back (middle and lower areas) immediately after I come out of it into Child pose, but is fine once I am sitting/standing up. Same issue with doing corpse pose afterward. Even without the two major inversions (headstand/shoulderstand) I still have back irritation/pain in corpse pose. I tried Corpse pose again today after practice and found I could deal with the pain and that it subsided after a few minutes once the lower back muscles relaxed, but most of the time I avoid doing it altogether and just put my legs up the wall!

Anyone else experience this, or have students that experienced this? Any advice? I’d like to be able to lie down and relax into corpse pose, and no amount of bolster pillows helps if I don’t do legs up the wall first. I may just try to set up a private session with a yoga instructor to see what I might be doing wrong. This happened to me even in hot yoga classes I took last year!

Would strengthening my core help? I only recently added Plank pose, and sometimes do crunches and push ups before doing the resting poses. While there are no Iyengar yoga classes near where I live, there is a place that holds Soma classes for core strength and flexibility… something I might try.

Thanks for listening to my ramble! :slight_smile:

#2

Hello Ari,

Sequencing asana is both science and art. As the tool that is Yoga is so powerful so too is the proper sequence empowering, the improper one eroding. Ergo there are some fundamental principles imparted to teachers in teacher training, Since we do not have that common ground between us it is very difficult to recraft the sequence you post.

Here are a couple of things, that may soothe the effects of your sequence but by no means perfect it.

Consider adding baddha konasana and a gentle, active twist to your opening. Also please immediately move Paschimotansana and Gomukhasana later in the sequence. Also I suggest a commitment to Balasana to release the quadratus lumborum until we can determine what it is that’s amiss with you.

While I cannot tell you what you are experiencing AND I’d need to see you in your practice to tell you anything worthwhile at all, what you are experiencing likely comes from a lack of, or improper, alignment.

Let me add two other elements. The first is that it perfectly fine to do Viparita Karani (legs up the wall) before Savasana (corpse). The second is that core muscle building may turn out to be the biggest fallacy of the 21st century. It is pure marketing. Most deep core muscles are incredibly strong, very stabile, and work all day long. Make them work more is slightly insane. Some people will need that. Most need release. What is more appropriate is the proper strengthening of the legs so that they hold the body rather than forcing the spine to hold the body for them.

With back strain it is often muscles in the front (hip flexors in spasm) that are the issue. Alas they are rarely treated and when they are, they are treated poorly.

#3

Thanks for your feedback. I just looked at what you said and rearranged the sequence a bit. I’ll try it tomorrow or Friday most likely-

Child pose - Balasana
Bound Angle pose - Baddha Konasana ** (with a forward bend - should I avoid bending?)
Simple twist - Parsva Sukhasana **( forgot to include these two, I usually do this twist or the one above.)
Half Lord of the Fishes pose - Ardha Matsyendrasana
Riding Camel pose (“seated cat pose” is probably more correct, but I can’t find it anywhere)
Cat pose
Plank pose
Sun salutation (1x)
Sitting forward bend - Paschimotanasana
Cow Face pose - Gomukhasana
Triangle pose
Warrior pose II
Tree pose

Contingent on time:
Eagle Pose
Crow pose
Headstand (supported by a wall)
Child pose - Balasana
Plow pose
Supported Shoulderstand

Finishing:
Child pose - Balasana
Legs up the wall - Viparita Karani
Corpse pose - Savasana

Wish we could meet in person! It is hard to find a good teacher, and even meeting for a paid individual session is tricky money-wise. I appreciate your advice (and wow! dedication to this forum). What you said on core muscle building makes a lot of sense.

I’d like to learn more about what you mentioned about hip flexors or front muscles being implicated in back strain. How does that work exactly?

For now I’ll try to get set up with a local studio and find someone who could work with me. Being a full time grad student and working full time makes things busy and stressful. I’ve found that yoga is one of the best ways to manange it all, and definitely worth the time when I stick with it!

Thanks again! 'Night!

#4

Hmmmm.

My dedication is to yoga. The forum merely a tool.

How about I PM you a sequence and you PROMISE to find the poses, learn them, and do them without aggression or violence?

Further you’d agree in principle to find some way, some how, some time (soon) to get to classes or a workshop with an alignment-based teacher so that you do not forever impress upon your consciousness the mal-alignments that come from an asana practice without a teacher.

By the way, I will be assisting Aadil at the YJ Conference in New York May 15-18. Start putting money away now and come spend a couple hours with us - if you are so inclined:-) If not, then perhaps another teacher there would suit you.

#5

Hrm. Okay. It is about time I make this something more important in my life, and take it more seriously. I’ve never had anyone work with me on alignment and I really should find someone. I’m willing to do what you say, and try it out. Send me the PM when you can, and I will definitely find the poses and do my best to do them in a way that is without aggression or violence.

As for the conference… not sure what classes you’d recommend. The eight limb yoga intensive for May 15 looks like it be just what I need to center my practice and give it more meaning. It would be exciting to meet Aadil, being that my first yoga experience was Iyengar based.

Thanks so much for your help thus far. It’s made me realize a lot. (And a little overwhelmed! But happy to do things in a new way!)

#6

Ari,

The advice you’ve received is excellent. I just thought I’d pipe in with another voice calling attention to the importance of alignment.

A pose done in alignment vs. the same pose mis-aligned can be the difference between healing and injury. When a misalignment is repeated, it can lead to pain, which is why you’ve sought help.

The really GOOD news is that you can change the pattern that created the problem and come into a place where you are free of pain very quickly simply by applying optimal alignment.

As a specific option I invite you to look on Anusara yoga’s website in the Teacher’s Directory to see if there is a certified teacher in your area. The certified teachers in this style are highly trained and can help you reclaim your practice so that it feels good and is a joy. In case you aren’t able to make it to the YJ conference, this gives you a chance to find someone close to home to work with who has the skills you need to learn how to avoid and recover from injury.

#7

Good post. Nice information has been given. Yoga is one of the best of the exercise which gives a healthy and peaceful life. I like yoga very much. It brings lot of changes in my life. It reduces my stress and i lost my back pain too.

#8

Nice post. Thanks ari, InnerAthlete and katrina for sharing such an important information.I am happy and glad that i have joined this forum, and i am getting ample of knowledge on yoga from this forum. As back pain is the main problem occurring in the present lifestyle,so what information you gave is very important. I myself is suffering from back pain since many days. I will practice the yoga which you have mentioned.

#9

Ari,

Core strength is definitely important. I’ve taken pilates and I highly recommend learning the basics of pilates for ab strength that will help support your lower back and teach you how to engage your core while you are in every posture.

You may want to check the pilates style magazine and Ana Forrest also has some good ways to strengthen the core.

Hope this helps.

#10

Nice post. Good information has been given. Thanks arri. It will be very useful for my yoga exercises. I got more information about the different type of yoga from the yogasuppliesonline.com Thye are dedicated to yoga. Thye giv emany good tips and the benefits of different type of yoga.

#11

I would like to resurrect this thread because my experience was the exact same as the OP. What helped me was twofold: getting Rolfed, and doing Forrest Yoga videos. Here’s why.

I believe my back had excessive lumbar lordosis (sway-back), although it looked “normal” to the untrained eye. Doing any form of backbend, or any yoga asana without proper tuck of the tailbone just stressed it out and made my QL tighten up more. At this point I was in massage school and we were going through the 10 sessions of structural integration (Rolfing). During this time I had a lot of intense work on all the muscles attaching to my pelvis, most important of which was the Quadratus Lumborum. The other very important muscle, which does not attach to the pelvis, was my Psoas. Lots of deep work there helped to release the excess tension.

Forrest Yoga put great emphasis on tucking the tailbone, which I hadn’t heard before in my yoga practices. This helped me to bring awareness and proper alignment to the pelvis. Her practices also include a great deal of core strengthening. I think this was important not so much in the building of musculature in that area, but rather in the creating of awareness in that area, so that I could move it and hold it consciously, lengthening my spine upward and downward, rather than going into my unconscious habit of sticking my butt out, curving my low back, and putting one hand on my hip.

Finally, one aspect of Ana Forrest’s work that helped was some sequencing factors. Putting in several twists and hip openers after backbending or inversions, instead of just doing a forward bend as a “counterpose” seemed much more healthy for my low back and it is still a practice I include today in the classes I teach.