Upward facing dog - lower back pain

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hello everyone,

I’ve been practicing yoga intermittently for many years on a once a week basis but since last month I’ve started practicing everyday at home. I do about 20 min of sun salutations in the morning and then an hour hatha after (extremely sedentary) work.

I have increasingly noticed overarching and pain in my lower back while doing upward facing dog. From what I have read here and elsewhere this might be due to tight hip flexors. I’ve read that good asanas for this would be the warrior poses, triangle, lying hero, pigeon and twists. Please let me know if you have any tips regarding this. The other thing I’ve noticed is that since I tend to bend from my lower back, my upper back remains stiff and it is hard to open up my chest. I have tried switching up dog with cobra during sun salutations which does relieve the lower back slightly but I find it even harder to open up my chest in the cobra pose.

My main question is how to avoid injury while doing up dog or any other backbends that cause the lower back to overarch. And secondly how do I work on the flexibility of the upper back and chest without stressing the lower back?

Thank you.

#2

Hello Atom,

The short answer is lift in the bottom of the belly, moving the hands forward in the setup, not coming up as high, and moving the sacrum toward the Achilles tendon.

Generally though, it is not backbends that “cause” the lower back to overarch. Instead it is the body of the doer or a lack of appropriate action in the doing. The junction of the spine where the thoracic spine meets the lumbar spine can be an especially weak link.

When the student has not integrated appropriate action and allows the doing to fall into this weak link there is compression in the lumbar spine and this absolutely causes “low back pain”, though that is clearly a vague term at best. It should be noted that YES some low back pain can manifest as a result of issue in the hip flexors - or anything else that might torque on the pelvis and disorient it - like hypertonic hamstrings.

There are three things to do immediately. The first is to learn, work on, and master the lift in the bottom of the belly when doing Bhujangasana (easier to talk about one pose rather than a grouping), and the second is to maintain the action in the thoracic spine, while the third is to either a) not come up as high in the pose AND/OR move the hand placement farther forward.

The immobility in the thoracic spine (mid and upper back) does inhibit backbends and that would need to be addressed by a) not going at it so aggressively as mentioned above, b) working passive backbends over a foam egg or a blanket-wrapped block, and c) changing that in one’s living with continues to round the spine forward, over and over again over the course of time.

#3

+1 What i.a. said …and
You went form one day a week to seven ?
Learn sun sal b ,moon to add …
Cheers love

#4

Yes I went from once a week to 6 times a week… bad idea?

Thanks for your replies, I’ve already reverted to cobra from upward dog, still haven’t mastered the lift from the bottom of the belly though. I’ve read also that it’s a good idea to tighten the thighs and relax the buttocks while doing these poses which I find impossible doing at the same time!

#5

If the topic is now “actions for beginners in Bhujangasana ([I]Cobra[/I])” then I would simply add that I do not teach beginners to “tighten thighs and relax the buttocks” in that particular pose.

#6

:o[QUOTE=atomheart;83011]Yes I went from once a week to 6 times a week… bad idea?

Not a bad idea but be gentle with yourself, maybe give yourself time to adapt …
Love cheers

#7

[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;83027]If the topic is now “actions for beginners in Bhujangasana ([I]Cobra[/I])” then I would simply add that I do not teach beginners to “tighten thighs and relax the buttocks” in that particular pose.[/QUOTE]

I meant in the context of actions to protect the lower spine.

#8

For beginners in Bhujangasana it is the lift in the pit of the belly, an approach that is devoid of aggression and performance, while maintaining external rotation in the femurs and contraction of the muscles in the buttocks.

gordon

#9

[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;83042]For beginners in Bhujangasana it is the lift in the pit of the belly, an approach that is devoid of aggression and performance, while maintaining external rotation in the femurs and contraction of the muscles in the buttocks…[/QUOTE]

Kindly advise the need for external rotation in the femurs please? Is it possible to provide a photo showing how it is been done?

Wouldn’t externally rotate the femurs “squeezes” the lower back and may cause further lower back pain?

#10

Hello Antaraayaah,

[I][U][B]My mistake. It is internal rotation of the femurs.[/B][/U][/I]

Apologies to readers. Adjust above instructions accordingly.

#11

Thank you InnerAthlete for clarification.

#12

I have seen students developing lower back pain due to back bending asanas. It is mostly due to hyper extension in lower back while using the force from arms and shoulder rather than reaching up from the crown of the head. Another reason can be to check the width of the legs, legs too wide open remove the support for the lower back and the pressure becomes intense on lower back and feet too close leaves no room for lower back and again the pressure becomes too much on it, and further by overarching a student hurts himself more. It is same as tightening your fist while trying to stretch it at the same time. I hope it helps,

#13

Quite late for a reply, but maybe this can still helps.
My advice, engage your stomach/core muscles. The core muscles support the spine at the lower back area, basically rotate the front hip upwards (the tailbone down), and in that way straighten the lower back. In that way, as mobility in the lower back is reduced, the mobility in the upper back must increase, what you want.
Further i can just support, that the spine should be lengthened though the crown of the head, rather than bent. This will reduce the compression on the discs…
Hope this makes sense, hard to discribe in words…

#14

Your teacher should provide some modifications. Any good teacher would.

I would suggest that you keep your shoulders down, as this will lower the spine in general. Or you can ask your teacher before or after class if s/he can recommend a modification for this.