Could it be the back bends that give me neck pain?

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

I gave myself a pretty stiff and painful neck yesterday. Or I did the deed that led to it the evening before. I have had this type of pain before and the first asana I noticed that could trigger it was headstand. So I stopped doing that.

The next pose to trigger it was one bridge pose, where you bend your neck far back and rest on your forehead. Now I’m starting to suspect that a deep backbend of the neck done with the aid of a small ball was what did it this time.

I did that as a counter pose for a longer stay in shoulderstand. So far I have not noticed that shoulderstand gives me any problems in the beck, neither does plough. Plough can give me pain in the lower back but not in the neck. I letting my neck rest for another day or two and then I’ll go back and experiment a little with this.

Anyway, what’s a good counter pose to shoulderstand that does not involve a deep back bend of the neck?

#2

If headstand is done correctly there is no danger to the neck…the neck should be in a neutral position with most of the weight carried by the arms not the head.

Tipping your head back far enough to get your forehead on the floor and be weight bearing sounds like an injury waiting to happen…try fish pose…opening the chest and lengthening the front of the neck without compressing the back of the neck.

If you are no super flexible in hamstrings and are working without props then plough will hurt and possibly injure your lower back. Check with an Iyengar teacher about using support under upper back to protect C7 and blocks or chair under your feet so the lower back is not stressed.

#3

The neck is the pathway of communication between the heart and the head, between the spirit and the mind. Issues in the neck inhibit our ability to hear and pursue our life’s purpose.

Physiologically when the head goes back (in back bends) it should be lengthening and in integrity with the remainder of the spine. To not do this is to collapse or fold in the cervical spine and that will surely go into its weakest link, wherever that happens to be in this particular student body.

The benefits of inversion are immeasurable. If you have a teacher please have that person show you how to do Sirsasana between two chairs - assuming you are cleared for inversion and wanting the benefits theretofore. This will not only give you some of the benefit of the inversion but is also actually therapeutic for the cervical spine. Please do ask your teacher about contraindications.

I’m not familiar with a bridge pose where the head is bent back in the way you describe. However it is bend back in that fashion in matsyasana or fish pose. This pose, based on what I’ve seen, is over-practiced AND often poorly practiced, lacking appropriate preparation, alignment, and action. It is a wonder more people are not damaged.

#4

To[B] Innerathlete[/B]: That bridge pose is called [I]setu bandhasana [/I]in Iyengar’s book. I do that once and I have pain for two days. Not worth it at this moment in time and I’m not doing it. I have started to do fish pose more carefully, not trying to come all the way down to the floor, realizing that I’m pretty far from actually reaching the floor without starting to lean onto my head, which I don’t think is the point with the pose. So I’m bending as far back as I’m comfortable with, resting my weight mostly on my elbows I guess.

To [B]yogacambodia[/B]: A short stay in plow every two or three days is fine, longer stays (over a minute) and everyday, no, then the pain comes. Interesting point about tight hamstrings because yes, they are kinda tight. Shoulderstand seems to be fine though. I’ve done it and plow with or without porops and it seems to make little difference, if any. Right now I’m doing shoulderstand without any props, just cause it’s easier. It releases tension in the neck and gives no pain apart from a growing fatigue in the lower back after about 5 minutes, at which point I just come out of the pose and the discomfort is gone.

Anyway, back to the thing I did with the ball under my neck… trying to do a passive version of fish pose so to speak I wasn’t resting any weight on my head because it didn’t reach the floor, but I guess the back bend itself was just too deep and I kept it for too long becuase I felt just fine while doing it. Or maybe that’s not correct, because I did feel that the stretch was perhaps too deep. There was no pain that evening but the next morning I was very stiff.

I did shoulderstand again yesterday, although the pain in the neck wasn’t totally gone. It felt fine as I did it, in fact the neck started to feel better as I was doing it and even better after and it feels fine today.

#5

Sounds like sore muscles to me - you think?

#6

If it is this pose being referenced then several other questions are begged.
The first of which is the level of your asana practice that such a pose is included. That level, rather than a numerical value - like level 1 or level 3, would mandate certain actions and alignments (since Iyengar is cited as source) prerequisite in the body in order for safe doing.

Might you expound in this regard?

I would be further interested to know who or what has advised bearing weight on the head after opening neck muscles in Sarvangasana??

#7

To [B]Joanna63[/B]: Yes, it could very well be and that’s why I’m letting it rest.

To [B]InnerAthlete[/B]: Woa! Hold it, wait a minute… Do you know that you can be a little scary at times? You make me feel like I’m taking a test here, but that’s probably a good thing.

:slight_smile:

OK, the Iyengar book was mentioned because instead of finding a picture on the internet of the pose (like you did) I thought of a book that I was sure you also have. So, Iyengar is not really a source for what my yoga practice looks like and I tried that bridge pose about six months ago just out of curiousity and at the time it had very little to do with yoga. It was part of someone’s work-out routine and supposedly very good for any neck or back problem. I tried it, felt the pain and gave it up… and perhaps slowly started to make the connection between how that made my neck feel and how headstand has had a tendency to make my neck feel.

Anyway, the thing here was that I wasn’t bearing any weight on my head sicne I wasn’t doing matsyasana the ordinary way but used a ball (small plastic ball, a little smaller and softer than a regular one used for soccer) placed between my shoulderblades and my neck, creating the backbend but with the back fairly passive and without the head touching the floor.

What level is my yoga practice at? Pretty basic and confused I guess. I should probably go to a yoga teacher (I know you won’t disagree with me on that one). I did go to yoga classes long ago (we’re talking over 20 years ago), at Satyananda yoga center in my home town (Uppsala, near Stockholm). What I do today is a mix of what I remember from that and whatever I have picked up on the way and whatever I want to try.

While nobody really told me to bear my weight on my head and neck after sarvangasana I was taught to do matsyasana after sarvangasana, as a counter pose. These days I think that I’ve never been able to do the fish pose correctly but back then none of my teacher reacted to it. Now I try to just go as far back as I can without letting go of the arch in the back, without collapsing as you describe it, which I think is what I’ve been doing all these years, just leaned back and then lifted it all back up again with my head.