Lower Back Pain

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hare Krsna Dear Friends,

I am trying to diagnose a back pain that has been increasing lately. If you have any relevant knowledge that you would like to contribute it would be very much appreciated.
I know that lower back problems are very common and hopefully this will be easy to diagnose. I looked through some posts before posting but the majority of them seem to have a different nature even though related to lower back problems. If there is some useful information on a article or post if you could kindly indicate it to me would be also good.

My problem:
I am 21 years old and lately I have been feeling pain in the lower back region when standing for a few moments. Firstly it was only after about 6 or 7 hours of standing but now it starts after an hour or so. It’s a felling of extreme weariness. I sit for a moment and the pain goes away.

My activities:
I do a 15-30 min conscious and careful practice of gentle hatha yoga every morning for the past 3 years just to keep the body flexible.
Do a little run sometimes and that’s it.

Never had an injury from this yoga practice and have always had a healthy back (to my knowledge!). I used to do serious bodybuilding from 16 until 18, 19 years old. Used to do exercises for all back including lower back, but they were performed with knowledge and never had an immediate injury.

What I notice all the time when laying flat on the floor are a few loud cracks in the lower back. It doesn’t hurt and it feels as if the back is going back into place. This happen after a simple stretching exercise, after being sat in lotus position, sat on a chair etc. Do other people have these cracks. Is it just the sign of the spine going back to place?

I hope someone with knowledge can shine some light on this problem.

Love & Light
Luis Medinas

#2

Hello Luis,

Speaking in an overly simplistic way…

The vertebra in the spine subluxate. That means they move out of optimal position where optimal position is defined as three healthy curves, aligned spinous processes, and lack of impingement on nerve roots. So it is not a concern when the spin is realigning itself throughout the day. However it can also be said that such things should not be “regular”. By that I mean that one should not need to have such a thing in the same place over and over as that may indicate the musculo-skeletal system is not “holding” things in place.

Lower back issues have to be assessed. They are tricky. Some times they are on both sides, other times only one. Some times the issue is actually in the back while other times it is in the front and only referencing in the back.

There are certainly things to do however they are a bit complex and you’ve not fully outlined your practice, your living, your diet AND even after those are shared I’d still suggest a teacher IF you are seeking yoga to support your well being.

gordon

#3

Dear Gordon,

Thank you very much for your attention on this matter. I am very grateful to hear your expert advice.

It really feels as something is constantly out of place. Sometimes i feel like to give a little tap on the left side just next to the tailbone!
Just now, i finished cooking and washing the dishes and am in pain, not really pain it is more like an extreme weariness as i mentioned above.

Ok, i am not gonna be so simplistic and will recognise that it needs appropriate treatment.:slight_smile:

Can you kindly suggest an efficient treatment?

I am very inclined to indian methods of treatment as i am a student of bhakti yoga but a the time i don’t have the possibility of seeking a qualified yoga teacher. So getting treatment through hatha yoga by having a qualified teacher doesn’t seem to be possible for me at the moment, unfortunately, and trying to learn about what postures would be beneficial for me would be an intense study and most likely would be the hard way to go, resulting in failure and serious damage.
What are my alternatives?

Much appreciated!

Love & Light
Luis Medinas

#4

Luis,

Hi! It sounds to me like your lower back is tight from weight lifting and standing a lot. Of course try to get assessed so that you really know what is going on.

When my lower back is bothering me, I do hip openers. They help me alot. Pigeon, stacked logs etc.

#5

Hello Luis,

I was referring to my simplicity in reply, not your simplicity in posting. Sorry for any confusion there.

Our particular practice unifies Jnana, Bhakti, and Karma yoga rather than then severing one from the other. But that is a sidebar and not directly pertinent to your therapeutic question.

The alternatives would be to bring light and breath into the area (again in particular ways), watch and amend your diet, appropriately adjust how you are living/standing/sitting, treat the musculo-skeletal system by rubbing sunbreeze, mahavishgarbha, panaway, sesame seed oil on the effected area, and prying in to what you are feeling emotionally that may parallel feelings of a lack of support or financial concern.

#6

Dear Gordon and forum users,

Allow me to write about my diet and life style for my problem to be better understood and eventually solved:

General Diet (Vegeterian only. No fish, meat or eggs. No alcohol, cigarrets etc.)

A light breakfast at 8 am consisting of chapati with a bit of ghee, mixed nuts and raisins and
a sweetened milk with a crushed banana or mango drinked as a nectar.

A substantial lunch at 12:00 or 13:00 consisting of Rice, dal/lentils, chapatis and vegetables. To round it up I can add a salad, chutney, sweet and beverage.

A light dinner at 6 consisting of vegetables, a little bread, a savory, chutney, sweet and beverage.

I might have a bit of milk before going to bed if necessary.

(All the foods consumed are mild, not too salty, pungent etc. Avoid canned, refined and unnatural foods as much as possible)

General life style (sleep about 6-8 hours without trouble and dont wake up during sleep)
Get up before sunrise to perform japa or recitation of sacred mantras. Do a gentle and brief Hatha Yoga practice a few hours after. Prepare a light breakfast. Spend the rest of the morning reading, chanting, doing some research or writing work on the computer by sitting for a couple of hours.

Have lunch and go to work for about 4 hours. Working behind the bar in a caf?/restaurant. Job is quite gentle and no lifting of heavy objects is involved.

Come back home 4 hours later. Do some work in the house such as cleaning if necessary and prepare a meal. After a meal I spend the rest of the evening until going to bed reading, chanting, doing some research or writing work on the computer by sitting for a couple of hours.

Very smooth living. I live with parents and common material issues don’t create me stress. The only issues I have are subtle personal issues and I try to assess them wisely, patiently and gradually by the means of Bhakti Yoga.

I remember when the lower back disconfort started:

I used to go to trance parties often and used to dance long hours. That’s when I first felt this disconfort in the lower back region for the first time. Those activities have ceased about 6 months ago.

So, the causes seem to have been found and stopped and according to me my lifestyle is healthy.
The only thing I can think of is that lately I have been spending a lot of time cross legged when chanting, and sometimes the spine responds to this and I have to look for another sitting posture.

1- I will adjust my posture when chanting and sit on a chair or stool instead and observe if the back gets better. The problem is that after a little thinking I come to the conclusion that I don’t know what is right posture. Could you enlighten me on this ?

2 - If there was a simple treatment plan I could follow at home maybe for a week or so to see if it relieves the disconfort. I understand that the problem might be serious and treated as quick as possible to avoid future complications, but following some principles to begin with would probably cause no harm and would help diagnose the problem, so that when I approach someone I can explain what I have been doing and the results I observed. Where can I get such a set of tools?

Thank you very much for your attention.

Hare Krsna!

Luis Medinas

#7

Two hours south. Drew Stallcop in London.

gordon

#8

Dear Gordon,

I have checked the website. Thank you.
Very honestly i feel enthusiastic about going to this man you indicated me but if i have to go down to London i might meet with an Indian Ayurvedic doctor and Yoga teacher that i have seen a few times about other things. We have already met and created a connection between doctor and pacient and he can probably adjust the consultation to my financial possibilities. In the context of these financial possibilities, there is a Hare krsna Temple in London where free Ayurvedic consultations and payed Yoga lessons were available, you see?. I am checking if this is still on because it is very convenient in this way for me.

I feel that this lower back pain can be cured with appropriate Ayurvedic methods and Yoga postures that will adjust my lower back, put the vertebrae in place and cure the problem gradually. I just have to choose the place that is most convenient; finacial, locational etc.

Thank You Very Much for Your Attention!

I appreciate your advice and indications. They helped a lot and i will try and post in the future about my recover and the methods of treatment used for this particular problem so that other people can benefit.

Hare Krsna!
Luis Medinas

#9

Absolutely Luis. Just as we are responsible for our our dis-ease so too are we responsible for our own well being. Whatever speaks to you in that regard is okay with me.

I believe Ayurveda has a sound purpose in a healing process, as does asana. However the two of them combined (to me) are not a complete protocol. They will however make some things go away for a bit. They will not, in my experience make things go and not return.

But this is to each person to learn on their own, or not:-)

gordon

#10

Dear Gordon,

So, for what i understood you don’t think the two methods of treatment are very efficient when combined, not permanent, right?
But you indicated me purna yoga as a method of treatment. It indicates to me that you advocate it, right ?

You left me curious. How is Purna Yoga, which is a combination of other Yogas with Hatha Yoga as you mentioned, better than Hatha Yoga combined with Ayurveda?

Luis

#11

Asana
Pranayama
Meditation (not stilling the mind)
Nutrition (ayurveda, Chinese nutrition, modern science)
Lifestyle
Applied Philosophy

This is a complete protocol. Find it where you can.

And for clarification, Purna Yoga is not a combination of other yogas and I’d likely not have said such a thing. It is however a distillation of the asana/pranayama from the Iyengar system with the evolutionary concepts put forth by Sri Aurobindo.

#12

Hii Luis ,

I will like to suggest you that if you take into practice “LOCUST POSE” and " CROCODILE POSE", u will be relieved of your pain and subsequently you may lead to a healthy life.

Silky Pandey
Yoga Expert
DIVINE WELLNESS

#13

Dear Gordon,
I apologise for not understandig what you meant. It gave me the idea that you meant that Hatha Yoga and Ayurveda do not go well togethor.

It makes sense to approach a problem with a complete protocol as you say. Let’s not try to cure the problem with Ayurveda and Hatha Yoga by themselves and forget all the other important aspects. But this is common sense, right?

You mentioned above that your particular practice unifies Jnana, Bhakti, and Karma yoga, right? So, following your line of thought, isn’t unification synonymous of combination?

Dear Kameila,

Thanks for the tips. The locust pose i might try it but very carefully and paying attention how the spine responds because it is a little demanding in these circumstances but the crocodile seems more easy to do.

Until i am booked for an appointment with an expert person i am doing very very gentle postures such as child pose and similar ones. They feel good and relieve the exhaustion on the lower back. I only experience this exhaustion if i am sitting on the computer typing standing for a few moments.

Kind Regards
Luis Medinas

#14

Hii Luis,

Thanks for your feedback.

I would like to add that you can also avail some personalized classes which would be more beneficial for you.

Silky Pandey
Yoga Expert
DIVINE WELLNESS

#15

Dear Kamelia,

Yes, that is what i plan to do. Get personalised class to work towards my back problem to start with and then acquire the necessary background from a qualified teacher to build my own Hatha Yoga practice. I need to practice regularly because my body gets stiff, unadjusted, the back starts to arch after a while without physical activity. We are all like that. Some more than other right?

Hare Krsna

#16

Just my offering here, Luis:

The popping is most likely trapped hydrogen being released. This indicates extreme tightness.

Try sleeping with a pillow between your knees so that you’re not pulling the hips out of balance.

Be sure to stretch your hip flexors well. Sometimes when my back is hurting, I will just sit at the foot of my bed with my feet on the floor and my knees against the mattress, and then lie back slowly and supporting myself with my arms as I ease back to lying down. Be sure to create length and space in your lumbar as you carefully lie back. This will passively and gently stretch your hip flexors. And come out of it slowly, mindfully pulling first one knee up, then the other, then both knees into your chest.

The natural curve in the lumbar region is compromised by sitting so be sure to take breaks from the computer often. Maybe do bridge pose and whatever you can to stretch your hip flexors?

Triangle pose helps with stretching the iliacus and creates space at the SI joint. Other gentle twists should definitely be in your routine as well.

Another therapy I have found to help is to lie on my back and relax my abdomen. I use my fingers to massage the iliacus muscle that connects all along the pelvis. I go “behind” or “beneath” my abdomen to reach it. It will be extremely tender to the touch but quickly responds to the gentle massage. (You can google [I]iliacus [/I]to locate this muscle if you’re unsure.)

Like yogisamantha wrote, hip openers are a must! If you’re in pain, again you can use your bed to do pigeon by standing at the foot facing the bed and lifting one leg up onto the bed, placing the foot in position and using your arms to lower your body over the leg. Then switch.

I hope this helps and that you find relief soon! :smiley:

#17

Luis, I apologize for loading up your plate with even more advice but I was thinking more about your thread while I was doing dishes and I remembered your having said that you injured your back while dancing and that you had been a bodybuilder, and that you feel like pressing your lower back on one side to relieve the pain.

So! I think that you could have some instability in the lumbar-sacral joint from the dancing, an imbalance maybe from posture, perhaps from sleeping on your side without a pillow between your knees, and tightness/imbalance maybe from the overdeveloped muscles that may have not been maintained in balance/tone.

You will need to strengthen all the muscles that stabilize that joint. To strengthen your core and aid balance, you could try plank, then lift and extend opposite leg and arm, then switch. You could do beginner’s locust, raising upper body and legs to strengthen the back, and possibly add again alternating opposite leg and arm, then as you progressed extend both arms and legs.

Another “bed favorite” stretch of mine to balance my hips is to stand sideways at the foot or side of the bed and “lie down” keeping the outside foot on the floor positioned directly under my shoulder. I then do “cobra” 3 or 4 times. You can also reach behind and pull the foot of the leg lying on the bed towards you to stretch out the quad. Often I will get a sacral adjustment from this stretch.

#18

Sparky,
My 14yo son has recently developed pain in his low back, and without an x-ray, our chiropractor (using kinesic testing) had diagnosed him with problems with his sacrum. He is overweight and pretty sedentary, and I have been wracking my brain to try to figure out some exercises that he could try that would not cause him pain. The act of sitting causes him pain, and he feels more comfortable if he spreads his knees a bit to sit down. I will suggest the above ideas to him, and see if any cause him pain. I’m going to tell him to sleep with a pillow between his legs too! Thank you!

#19

Hi Joanna! I hope at least some of this helps him. He’s so young!

Just read over my posts and in the second one I had meant to write “table pose” after plank, with the opposite extensions of arm and leg. Plank in this fashion would be a “stretch” in balance to say the least! LOL

You know, walking is the best exercise for the back. Maybe your son could start walking every morning to loosen up. It even helps me with my shoulder muscles.

I do have a long history of back pain. I was a competitive bodybuilder in my twenties and fractured a lumbar vertebra doing inverted leg presses with 700 lbs (Hello EGO! :rolleyes:) and I jumped off a 50-foot cliff into water in my thirties cracking my sacrum. Plus I tend to alternate between periods of manic activity and sedentary laziness. That’s how I have learned to care for my back. I have found by just incorporating these few exercises/stretches, I am able to stay pain-free.

#20

Hi Joannna

I’ve tried reducing the amount i eat recently and i noticed felt better because of it. They could always might have to fast the first couple of days. Possibly exceesive i.e fasting at his age but you could always consider his diet.

Also teach him meditation and get him to focus on his sacrum ,just above the tailbone where the vertebrae begin. Combine that with light asana, exercise or stretching,cycling, very mild weight training only if it does’nt result in soreness or strain afterwards.

Not saying i know what’s best for him but diet can make a big difference though it can take a little discipline and change to begin with.It might be inappopriate at his age but diet & excercise, i.e eat less or change it.Most people just eat too much and i think the body can heal itself better if it is in a fasted state.Whether this applies also to teenagers i am not really sure however.