Hot yoga may aggravate thoracic back pain

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hi,

For the past 12 days or so, I have had thoracic back pain, which started just under the right shoulder, and has radiated around my side to the front of my chest and back. I have also felt shots of pain breathing in and out on my right lung. It was not caused by injury - it felt like a muscle stitch that got inflamed.

Much of what I’ve read online suggests yoga is good for back issues, but I have found that doing my regular hot yoga class, which I’ve been practicing for about 8 months, almost daily, seems to aggravate the back pain and set me back. I have taken it easy in many classes, and have skipped a few days here and there, but am now considering suspending yoga practice until my back is better. (In last night’s class, it seemed like the ‘dancer’s pose’ with the right leg back seemed to initiate the pain.)

I’m wondering if yoga may have injured my back in the first place; perhaps I was bending too enthusiastically. However, my online research into yoga-related injuries hasn’t turned up anything related to this area of the back. I’m wondering if anyone here has any thoughts for me. For example, if it was my yoga practice that is the problem, which postures may have been the culprit? Where should I be more mindful when I stretch? Or, perhaps I am barking up the wrong tree, and yoga has nothing to do w/ this pain…?

Thanks!

#2

Being an occasional practicer, but one that has been practicing occasionally over the past three years, I have learned to listen very carefully to my body. I really thought I was paying attention, but have since realized I really wasn’t fully listening.
If there is ANY discomfort when it comes to an already existing condition, I have learned to pull back in the pose, or, if that does not relieve it, to avoid the pose that day altogether.
As a result of ignoring mild discomfort (other than muscle stretch) or even something not feeling “quite right”, I’ve developed some real sacroiliac issues that I’m now having to work on with my chiropractor.
So my suggestion to you is, since you already have an injury, listen VERY carefully to your body, if there is even a “not quite right” feeling when going into a pose, don’t go into it. Modify it, or do something different.
In doing this, you may also eventually discover the root cause of your pain.
Good luck to you, I hope you find the source and can act to help it heal.

#3

Hello Litleduck,

For a response on a therapeutic issue I would need more information than what you’ve supplied. The nature of both the human being and the practice, not to mention the full disclosure on the injury would be needed. Sharp or dull pain, lasting how long? Better when cold or hot? Better when lying down? yada yada yada.

When discussing an asana practice, which is not at all a yoga practice but is about 1/100 of a yoga practice, yes it is quite possible to sustain injury. However when injury is recurring or when the practice seems to generate the same injuries, then we have something of greater concern (about the practice).

Furthermore, a heated practice provides the student a false sense of security in that there is an artificially supplied increase in range of motion. That increase may not be in the best interest of the student’s physiology AND they’d have no way to know that as most heated students are feeling like wet noodles (or feeling nothing at all). It’s like taking a pain-killer and claiming you’re all “better”. Nothing at all is better. It’s just that you can no longer feel the communications from the body to the mind.

The area you describe sounds like the latisimus dorsi however the wrapping of the pain could then involve the serratus anterior or the intercostals between the ribs. My point is that there’s no way to tell without seeing and assessing you. It would be at that point that we could discuss postures to do and to avoid.

Since you are likely PAYING someone to teach you YOGA It is best to ask that teacher you are working with and give them the opportunity to do their job - guide you. Hopefully you’ll get a better answer than “self modify” or “if it hurts don’t do it” or “just push through it, you’ll be fine, it’s toxins”. If those are the replies then it might be time to reconsider your choices :slight_smile:

gordon