I hope to soon start back doing yoga. I dont want to risk hurting my back again so my rule will be if it starts to hurt back off. I think I will avoid forward bends for a while. I would appreciate any advice on how to prevent injury. My back is my problem. Thanks 
Avoid all forward bends until there is no back pain at all whatsoever for at least two weeks straight. Acquire an alignment-based DVD that you fancy (Patricia Walden’s Yoga for Beginners, as example) and do that practice until you can do it on your own without the DVD.
This would seem to address the primary issue you’ve broached - doing an asana practice that is safe where there is no teacher available.
Thanks for the reply Gordon. I have the Patricia Walden dvd but never used it. This morning I reviewed it. Its very detailed and slow. I think it will be very helpful to me.
Kyogagirl64,
Precautions involved in the case of a person suffering from backache depends on whether which factor(s) caused backache. Some of the causes are listed below:
- Lumber Spondylitis or Spondylosis with normal curvature.
- Lumber Spondylitis or Spondylosis with Lordosis.
- Degenrative or non-degenerative disc disorders.
- Spondylolisthesis
- etc.
While I agree with ‘Innerathlete’ on his advise for avoiding forward bend poses in your case, but it is fact that applies most to the cases of first pointer as above. In case of backache with reverse curve i.e. Lordosis forward bends poses are beneficial.
I believe that we can contribute the best to your problem of backache if you could let us know cause of backache as per assessment of doctor(s) and tests conducted by him.
[QUOTE=kyogagirl64;78161]I hope to soon start back doing yoga. I dont want to risk hurting my back again so my rule will be if it starts to hurt back off. I think I will avoid forward bends for a while. I would appreciate any advice on how to prevent injury. My back is my problem. Thanks :D[/QUOTE]
MRI and L-spine CT report both say that I have left sided disk herniation at L5-S1, chronic, partially calcified. It is associated w fragmentary facet arthropathy on the left at L4-L-5. Negative for Spondylosis and Spondylolisthesis. I have normal spinal curvature.
My mother has RA and osteoarthritis, lucky for me right? I really want to live a productive life thats partially pain free - haha dont we all. Im willing to do whatever it takes. My mother was always active until one year ago, (age 71 now) and now she can hardly get around. Although she always worked hard and gardened I never saw her exercising or doing anything to improve her health. I dont want to end up like her. Im really needing yoga to work for me as I feel like I have a lot going against me as far as health. Thanks so much for your reply HealthAndYoga. What should I do? This morning I started out with a few stretches and I was going to try yin yoga. My back started hurting so I stopped. This is getting depressing. I have been out of commission for almost 10 months now due to a broken tib-fib in January.
I did yoga for approx. six weeks and Im sure I wasnt doing it 100% correct but I feel that I benefited from it both physically and mentally. I could never see me doing hand stands or bending my body into pretzel shapes, but I would have become more flexible, relaxed and built up strength. Aging seemed less stressful. I hope to get back to yoga asap.
This may be a silly idea but Im going research and see if there is anything oline where people can work together on webcam. Im very hesitant about that, but at the same time I think it could be rewarding. Sorry for ranting on so much. B