Therapeutic Yoga can help relieve back pain by incorporating physical therapy & yoga. Trudy, a fellow PT & registered yoga teacher, stops by to show me stretches & exercises for back pain relief.
Therapeutic yoga focuses on gentle yoga or modification poses with breathing techniques. Trudy is not only a friend and mentor, but she is also from Canada! So if you are a Canadian viewer, make sure to give her a shout-out in the comments. And Canadian or not, make sure you visit her website!
The first stretch is for back pain relief is for the psoas muscle. Lengthening the psoas can help relieve pressure and tightness in the back.
Next is a stretch for the quadratus lumborum (QL). The QL can cause the pelvis to not move freely which can cause a lot of back pain.
Finally, some core strengthening is a great way to keep the back strong and stable.
These back pain relief stretches don’t necessarily need to be done in bed, but they are a great way to help relieve back pain in the morning before getting up, and/or when going to bed at night.
Mid back pain (also called middle back pain or thoracic back pain) can make it difficult to perform everyday activities. Here are 3 of my favorite mid back stretches to help relieve pain & tightness.
Cracking your back can help relieve back pain. But make sure the cause of your back pain is diagnosed first because with some back issues you should never crack your back.
The upper back can be a hard area to stretch. Tight rhomboid muscles and other muscles around the shoulder and neck can cause upper back pain. My favorite stretch for the upper back area is a seated rhomboid stretch.
Percussive Massage Therapy using a massage gun (aka percussion massager) for back pain relief uses fast, soft pulses over a short amount of time to get deep down into the muscle fibers.
In this video, I teamed up with Dr. Jen, a pelvic floor physical therapist who also happens to be pregnant! She'll show you her top 5 exercises to help relieve low back pain when you are pregnant by mobilizing and stabilizing the pelvis.
Osteoporosis develops when the structure and strength of bone changes. This can cause decrease in bone strength which can increase the risk of breaking bones. These gentle exercises for osteoporosis, when done at one’s own pace, can help prevent further decline and help protect the bones.
