Yoga and Pilates for Low Back Pain Yoga and Pilates for Low Back Pain 9798201110161

Table of contents :
 
Free Classes
 
About The Author
 
Introduction
 
Chapter 1: Movement Principle #1--Strengthen
 
Chapter 2: Strengthening Poses
 
Chapter 3: Movement Principle #2--Lengthen
 
Chapter 4: Lengthening Poses
 
Chapter 5: Movement Principle #3—Release
 
Chapter 6: Myofascial Release Techniques
 
Chapter 7: Other Considerations and Next Steps
 
Sources

Citation preview

 

YOGA FOR LOW BACK PAIN

  BY MARIAH SECREST-COMER

 

Copyright © Mariah Secrest-Comer 2021

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without written permission from the author.

 

 

Table of Contents

Free Classes

  About The Author

  Introduction

  Chapter 1: Movement Principle #1--Strengthen

  Chapter 2: Strengthening Poses

  Chapter 3: Movement Principle #2--Lengthen

  Chapter 4: Lengthening Poses

  Chapter 5: Movement Principle #3—Release

  Chapter 6: Myofascial Release Techniques

  Chapter 7: Other Considerations and Next Steps

  Sources

FREE CLASSES

 

  To help you put the principles of these books in action, I’ve put together a 30day program of yoga, Pilates, and foam rolling class videos and education specifically for low back pain.

  Try it free for 7 days at http://www.wellthyboss.com/back-bliss/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Mariah Secrest-Comer is a certified yoga, Pilates, and barre instructor and educator within the fitness industry. Additionally, she is certified as a meditation instructor and Ayurvedic lifestyle instructor and has served as a Whole Health retreat host and presenter for Deepak Chopra.

  Having experienced low back pain herself, culminating in a painful ER visit with a diagnosis of SI Joint Dysfunction, she made it her mission while healing herself through yoga and Pilates to better understand the anatomy and root causes associated with back pain.

  Since then she has helped over 30,000 students improve their low back health through her online yoga and Pilates classes for low back pain.

INTRODUCTION

  Welcome to the first step of using Yoga and Pilates inspired movement to liberate your low back. Like you, I’ve experienced the ways in which low back pain slows you down and makes you feel older than you need to. But thankfully, as a yoga and Pilates instructor, I’ve had some tools to help me along the way. Since then I’ve become devoted to using movement principles based on yoga, Pilates, and mysofascial release to uncover holding patterns in the low back.

  Here’s what you can expect from this book.

  We’ll weave both educational concepts as well as the practical application of poses that you can try immediately for your low back tension, as a tool for identifying what helps you the most. You’ll even get access to some class videos so we can practice together!

  Because low back pain originates from a myriad of causes, it’s important for you to not only understand potential root causes, but also to pay attention to how your body responds to specific poses, exercises, and stretches.

  This is also why it’s so important that you work in conjunction with a licensed medical provider to see if you have any specific spinal conditions that require special consideration.

  What may be beneficial for general low back tightness or some conditions, may not be for other conditions. Check with your doctor to see

whether specific movement patterns (such as twisting) are restricted, and always listen to your body in a pose. While some poses may feel some level of intensity, you should never feel pain while in a pose.

CHAPTER 1 Movement Principle #1--Strengthen

  Strengthening your core is important, but it's worth noting what that means and how it's only one piece of the equation. (After all, even professional athletes with strong abs can experience low back back.)

  The spine follows a natural S-curve that allows for an equal distribution of force.

 

  Image: MedicalGraphics.de License CC BY-ND 4.0

  Lots of things can disrupt that ideal distribution--from being weak in certain areas (causing compensation in others) to tight tissue from favoring one set of movement patterns over another.

  While we will address tissue tightness in later chapters, let’s consider for a moment how muscle weakness could be a contributing factor in your low

back pain.

 

Common Areas of Muscle Weakness in Low Back Pain

  Abdominals

  Many people are quick to assume, if they have low back pain, that they need to improve their abdominal strength.

  And while the abs are not the only suspect muscle group for low back pain (and indeed, not even the only muscle group related to the we certainly can’t expect to have a healthy distribution of spinal force if our abs are under-developed.

  Note: There is a lot of confusion around the difference between strong abs and flat abs. The ability to see visibly defined muscles in the midsection is a poor indicator of whether or not you have strong abdominal muscles. When you exercise your abdominal muscles against gravity, they will improve in strength over time. Whether or not your ab definition is visibly apparent is dependent on how much adipose—or fat—tissue sits on top of them.

  Strengthening your core is, ironically, not a very effective way to reduce belly fat. But it IS an effective strategy, when paired with the other strategies in this book, for achieving optimal spinal health.

  When the abdominal muscles are not strong, pelvic stability becomes compromised.

 

Technically, your abdominals include 4 subsets of muscle groups. (And even still, these do not make up the totality of your core).

  Transverse Abdominis: Your “seatbelt” muscles deep beneath the superficial muscles

  Rectus Abdominis: Your “6 pack” muscles that move the trunk between the ribcage and pelvis

  Internal Obliques: Deep lateral muscles that aid in rotation and stability

  External Obliques: Superficial lateral muscles that aid in side-bending, rotation, and stability

  All of these muscles work in synergy together to not only move the trunk, but also to create intra-abdominal pressure that stabilizes the diaphragm, pelvic floor, and abdominal wall to unload the spine.

  Muscle weakness in these abdominal groups can result in the following two low back pain culprits:

  #1. An over-reliance on low back muscles to support the spine, without an anchor in front of the body

  #2. An unstable pelvis, which can lead to faulty movement patterns AND increase spinal compression (and over time, can result in SI Joint dysfunction)

 

When strengthening the core, the primary aim is stability. Your unstable areas will be unique to you, but make sure you cover your bases with the recommendations at the end of this chapter.

  Glutes

  Although glute tightness can be a very common culprit for low back issues, as we’ll discuss in Chapter 3, weakness in the glutes can also lead to dysfunction in the low back.

  Glute strength and tightness can also have a symbiotic relationship with one another, especially when you consider that there are multiple groups of muscles in your seat. Even the glutes themselves are comprised of 3 different muscles:

  Gluteus largest muscle in your seat (and in the body!)

  Gluteus Medius – one of the muscles responsible for rotating hips away from body

  Gluteus Minimus – deep to the gluteus medius—we’ll talk more about this in Chapter 3

  When the glute group is weak (especially the gluteus maximus), this causes an overcompensation of a smaller muscle known as the piriformis. When the piriformis takes on more of its share of the workload, it can become very tight as a result.

 

While we’ll address some poses in Chapter 4 to release tight piriformis, it’s worth noting that strengthening weak glutes can help prevent piriformis tightness in the first place.

  Having proper strength in the glutes—without overtraining them—can help stabilize the spine and keep the hips and pelvis in proper alignment for movement.

  Back Extensor Muscles

  Of course, the back itself has lots of supporting musculature that can either be weak or tight. Having an imbalance where your back extensor muscles are weaker than your trunk flexors has been shown to be a contributing factor to low back pain.

  In the next chapter, I’ll show you some Pilates and yoga-inspired poses to help you strengthen your back extensors so they can handle their share of the load.

  Muscle Strengthening Key Concepts

  Whether you already suspect a particular muscle group that needs to be strengthened, or need to work on your strength overall, it’s important to remember that the body works together as a unit. Everything affects everything.

  Because of that, we want to keep a couple of key concepts in mind for effective strengthening to prevent low back pain.

  #1. Train in all 3 planes of motion

  This means that you’re practicing strengthening exercises that move your body and limbs not only up or down, or forward or back—but also sideto-side and in rotation (unless you have a spinal condition in which a particular plane of motion is restricted by your doctor’s advice.)

  In the scientific world, we call these the sagittal plane, frontal and transverse

  The body was designed to move in every direction, but most of our daily activities in modern culture limit us to the sagittal plane which is forward and back as well as up and down.

  Most of us need to spend more time training with exercises that move our body or limbs side to side as well as gentle, controlled twisting. This goes for strengthening as well as lengthening, which we’ll address here shortly.

  #2. Choose abdominal exercises that lengthen the front of the trunk rather than shorten.

  The most updated Pilates science, when paired with functional movement premises, encourages us to move away from abdominal exercises that shorten the front of the trunk.

  You may have heard or assumed that crunches were the best way to train your core, but my research and experience proves otherwise. (I mean, even the name “crunch” indicates compressing everything together!)

 

Choose ab exercises that increase tension during what we call the eccentric part of the movement (i.e, your tummy muscles are stretching out longer as the work gets harder instead of crunching in shorter as the work gets harder).

  I love using the Pilates small ball behind the low back in seated core work to encourage strengthening against gravity in a lengthened position.

  Isometric ab exercises such as planks and plank variations are also a great way to build abdominal endurance.

  #3. Consider muscle recruitment as much as muscle strength

  This one gets a little more complicated, but sometimes we favor incorrect muscle movements not necessarily due to muscle weakness, but due to the messages that the brain sends the body.

  All movement begins as an electrical signal from the brain, but the brain can essentially send instructions for the “long way around” to perform a specific function, which over time can result in pain from the wrong muscles compensating to get the job done.

  Why does it do this? Again, the answer is complicated…injuries, anatomical differences, poorly learned movement habits, posture, and muscle tightness are just a few of the root causes for incorrect muscle recruitment.

  Re-training the brain to fire the appropriate muscles in the appropriate order for any given task is an essential for getting to the root of back pain

if, indeed, neuromuscular signaling is a problem for you.

  Physical-therapy inspired movements can help the brain make these new connections, such as the ones offered in a technique called Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization, which we address in my Back Bliss program with the help of my colleague Riley Shaia—a physical therapist by background—and former back pain sufferer.

CHAPTER 2 Strengthening Poses

  BRIDGE POSE

 

  Spread your shoulders wide and flat into the ground to provide a base of support, then press hips high to the ceiling. Weight should be equally distributed among the inner arches and outer edges of the feet. Hold for 10-15 seconds, rest, and repeat 3-5X—eventually building up to 30 second holds.

 

SIDE-LYING DOUBLE LEG LIFT

 

  Propping head on hand from underneath, lie on your side with hips stacked and shoulders square. First, squeeze legs together with pointed toes, then use the muscles in the side of the waist to lift both legs off the mat. Return to the floor. Repeat 8-10X.

 

EARTHQUAKE

 

  Place a small Pilates ball, playground ball, or rolled up towel behind the tailbone to support the low back. With knees bent and feet on floor, lean back into the ball as you take your arms up. Return to start. Repeat 10-12X.

 

SWIMMING

 

  Begin face-down on the ground. Pulling navel away from the ground, lift opposite leg and arm, then alternate. Keep the back of the neck long. Repeat for 15 seconds. Rest, then repeat 2X.

CHAPTER 3 Movement Principle #2--Lengthen

  In chapter 1 we explored the first movement principle, which is that of strengthening the muscles that help stabilize and support the spine.

  Now we’ll look at a second movement principle that has to be in place if we want to have a healthy, pain-free low back—and that is the principle of lengthening.

  Our bodies are dynamic. The cells themselves contract and release, and groups of cells in muscle fibers and soft tissue interact together to respond to change agents such as stress, action, injury and trauma, so that the tissues that surround and support our bones can take on many qualities.

  Tightening of muscle tissue and fascial tissue can and does alter both the range of motion of movement patterns as well as the compressive forces on the spine.

  I categorize the concept of lengthening into two broad categories— stretching and traction.

  Stretching is the one you’re probably more familiar with, so we’ll start with that.

  STRETCHING

 

“I need to stretch more.”

  Have you found yourself admitting that? Lots of people turn to yoga for stretching, and lots of people turn to stretching because of low back pain.

  In fact, one of the ways we tend to describe low back pain is feeling tight.

  If you’ll recall from the opening chapter, we discussed that the healthy spine follows an S-curve which allows for an optimal distribution of force upon it.

  But when we are stiff and tight, this has an impact on not only the bones of the spine, but also the bones that move in dependent relationship to the spine—such as the pelvis. When any of these structures are pulled even a small degree askance, the whole system of the body has to adapt to change its biomechanics.

  What this means is that the ideal curvature of the spine begins to morph into some less healthy postures—such as an excessive forward tilt of the pelvis and exaggeration of the lumbar curve in what’s referred to as lower crossed syndrome, also characterized as an anterior pelvic tilt.

  Another classic postural dysfunction that can result from tight tissue is upper crossed characterized by kyphosis (or forward rounding) of the upper spine.

  While as you can imagine, this distortion of spinal force can greatly influence neck and shoulder tension through the undue compression it creates, also remember that the entire body is connected.

  Due to the shared sheets of fascia (connective tissue) tying muscles of the neck in with muscles that extend to the mid and low back, the low back and hips will often compensate into a maladaptive shape when affected by upper crossed syndrome.

  Upper crossed syndrome is increasingly prevalent with the number of hours we now spend slouched in front of technology. The longer we sit in poor posture, the shorter the neck flexor muscles become, which creates a vicious cycle of the body defaulting to poor posture.

  While being mindful of our posture in the first place is a hugely important component of remedying upper crossed syndrome, due to the compensatory shortening of the tissues around it, fixing this postural distortion requires a two-fold approach.

  When we stretch and lengthen the affected muscles, we’re more likely to have good posture in the first place.

  With all that said, you can see why it then becomes important not only to stretch the low back muscles themselves but also the muscles that can lead to the improper curvature of the spine (or lack thereof).

  Only stretching the back muscles, without stretching the muscles that may be leading to low back pain in the first place, is simply putting a band-aid on the situation. It may help to relieve some discomfort in the moment, which is not unimportant, but we miss out on the opportunity to restore the body to a functional posture and prevent the pain from occurring in the first place.

  So which muscles should we aim to stretch, in a comprehensive attempt to keep low back pain at bay?

  Well, the short answer is…all of them! But here are some particularly classic areas to pay attention to.

  Glutes

  As discussed in the previous chapter, glutes are a huge lynch pin of low back health. Tight glutes can be just as much of a problem (if not more so) for those who are already very active—such as athletes and fitness junkies —than those who are sedentary.

  However, as we saw in the chapter on strengthening, weak gluteus maximum muscles can cause overcompensation of the piriformis muscle —one of the main ones responsible for rotating the hips.

  So this means that tightness along the back of the seat can be common among many.

  In the next chapter we’ll visit some pigeon variations, which are a classic pose to relieve tightness in the piriformis.

  Hamstrings

  The major muscles in the back of the upper legs often get tight as a result of either too much sitting, intensive athletic training, OR faulty

biomechanics.

  We can’t have a healthy back (or a healthy body) without flexible hamstrings. Here are a couple of misunderstood facts about hamstring flexibility, however.

  #1. Stretching hamstrings in an unsupported forward fold, such as bending down from a standing position to try to touch your toes, can actually aggravate existing low back pain by increasing disc pressure.

  Similarly damaging for the low back is sitting on the ground with your legs extended forward and trying to drape forward to reach the toes. Unfortunately, these are often the first stretches people think of when trying to stretch the hamstrings.

  There are better ways of increasing hamstring flexibility that don’t put pressure on your back. When your back pain is at bay, you may be able to achieve a forward-fold pain free. But until we reach that point, we’re going to turn to other stretches. (See Chapter 4.)

  #2. Stretching the hamstrings is counterproductive if your hamstring tightness is due to fascial adhesions in the glutes.

  As I’ll state over and over again, the body is intricately connected, and there are typically a number of reasons why the body may have come to arrive in its current state. While hamstrings can certainly become tight on their own, due to the above listed reasons and more, hamstring tension may also be the secondary result of dysfunctional tissue in the glutes—

which is better relieved through myofascial release (which we’ll learn more about in Chapters 5 and 6).

  Tight hamstrings can also be exacerbated by weak hip flexors, which push the pelvis back and flatten out the lumbar curvature of the spine.

  So if you keep stretching your hamstrings, only to have them stiffen right back up, consider experimenting with the manual pressure techniques for the glutes that we’ll discuss in later chapters.

  Hip Flexors

  One of the first to shorten with too much sitting (OR too much repetitive flexion through endurance sports like running and your iliopsoas muscle group—commonly referred to as your hip flexors—are almost guaranteed to benefit from more stretching.

  There just simply aren’t many activities in modern daily life that allow the hip flexors to passively lengthen, so being attentive to stretching this area (as well as limiting the amount of sitting we do in a given time) can pay big dividends in returning the spine to its optimum positioning.

  The psoas in particular is also intimately connected with the diaphragm through a ligament called the medial The diaphragm is responsible for breathing, meaning that a stressed, shallow breath can exacerbate psoas tension and conversely, a tight psoas can push the ribcage forward and result in chest breathing—which is not as effective as belly breathing from the diaphragm.

 

In addition to stretching the iliopsoas muscle group, turn to deep breathing exercises as a way to calm stress and lessen the tension in the hip flexors.

  Lats

  The back itself doesn’t differentiate between upper back, mid back, and low back. It’s all one thing! We use these terms to help us explain concepts, but the key thing to remember is what affects one area of the spine can affect all areas of the spine.

  Our latissimus dorsi (commonly referred to as our lats) are the major muscles that form a V-shape from outside our shoulder blades around the front of the shoulders, all the way to the low spine where they originate at the L5 vertebra and even the iliac crest of the hip bones!

  We often tend to think of the lats as involving more of the mid to upper back, because that is where they span the most width, but the lats cover a lot of territory.

  Because they are such a large set of muscles, and because they have multiple attachment and origin sites to your spine, pelvis, ribs, and arms, any tightness or dysfunction in the lats can lead to a range of pain points or reduced mobility—including the low back.

  A telltalle sign of tight lats are the inability to easily lift your arms over your head. (Especially pay attention to whether your low back arches as you stretch your arms up above you—you can really tell the difference when performing this test in a seated upright squat against a wall).

 

While there are different ways to stretch your lats, as well as release them through myofascial release, side bending is a very effective way to stretch them in a way that includes the origin points of the hip. This is important especially if we are noticing the tightness in the lats affecting our low back range of motion or stiffness.

  Personally, the yoga poses that have given me the most low back pain relief have almost all been in a side bending position.

  TRACTION

  So now I’ve given you an overview of how stretching helps contributes to the lengthening movement principle.

  But there’s a second aspect to lengthening that comes to bear with low back pain, and that’s the aspect of traction.

  At first blush, some traction exercises may appear to look like stretches. Others, meanwhile, may be more akin to physical therapy or rebab inspired positions, such as using an inversion table or—my favorite—an aerial yoga swing, to get the body into an inverted position.

  Whether it’s part of a stretch or a stand-alone traction exercise, the goal is a little different than stretching the muscles. When we stretch, the aim is to relax contracted muscular or connective tissue.

  When we traction, however, the aim is to let gravity assist in separating the facet joints of the vertebrae.

 

So it’s concerned with the spatial positioning of the bones, rather than the tissue holding up the bones.

 

  Image: MedicalGraphics.de License CC BY-ND 4.0

  Your intervertebral discs act as shock absorbers for the spine. When they get compressed (through a host of contributing factors such as prolonged sitting, dehydration, injury, irritation of the facet joints from overexercising, and even aging), these shock absorbers lose their “bounce,” if you will, by becoming thinner and drier.

  The result? Increased painful pressure against the nerve, potential inflammatory material from the disc’s nucleus that can make contact with the nerve root, the eventual deterioration of the disc until bone spurs occur

from vertebrae rubbing against one another, and increased risk of disc herniation, sciatica, stenosis, and a host of other spinal disorders.

  When we add routine traction exercises to our self-care, we create a chance for the discs to decompress. This not only temporarily relieves the spine of pressure-induced nerve pain; but also by adding space back to the vertebrae, the discs are able to gently return to a greater height by becoming rehydrated.

  While inversion tables and aerial yoga swings can both help traction the spine, they both tend to be costly and aren’t the only effective way to add traction to your spine. (If I were to recommend one over the other, anyway, I’d say go with the yoga swing as you can do so much more with it—plus it takes up less storage space!)

  Plus, going completely upside down isn’t great for everyone—including those with low blood pressure, eye disease, pregnant individuals, or those for whom going upside down would pose a mechanical risk or any discomfort.

  You can traction your spine without any equipment at all by stretches that arrange your bones in an optimal position against gravity, with the use of small tools and props, which I’ll demonstrate in the next chapter, or through an array of products on the market.

CHAPTER 4 Lengthening Poses

  DOWNWARD FACING DOG

 

  Using a mat or towel, start from hands and knees. Tuck your toes and straighten your legs while lifting the hips in an upside-down V shape towards the ceiling. Use your hands to press into the mat, which will help lift your hips higher, while gently pressing chest back towards the thighs. Head and neck should be relaxed.

 

UPWARD FACING DOG

 

  Begin face down on the floor or mat. With hands under shoulders, press arms straighter until your chest is off the mat. Only straighten arms to a height that is comfortable on the back. Roll shoulders back, lift chin slightly, and raise chest to the ceiling. For a deeper stretch and spinal decompression, you may build up to lifting the thighs off the mat.

 

PYRAMID

 

  Place two blocks, bricks, or equal stacks of books shoulder-width apart on the ground. Facing the blocks, step your left leg back about 3 feet. Keep the toes of both feet facing forward towards the blocks. Place your hands on the blocks and lengthen your torso, keeping a flat back.

 

DRAGONFLY VARIATION

 

  Begin in a straddle position, tucking right foot in towards the left leg. Place a bolster or firm bed pillow lengthwise on the left leg. Supporting the head in the bottom hand with the elbow pressing into the bolster, reach your right hand up and over, keeping shoulders square. Hold for 30-60 seconds, then repeat on other side.

 

SUPPORTED BRIDGE

 

  Place a block wide under the hips on the low or medium height, making sure your seat is resting solidly on the block and that it’s not tipping forward or back. Relax the muscles in the back and legs. Hold for a minimum of 1 minute, up to 5 minutes. Great to practice daily.

CHAPTER 5 Movement Principle #3—Release

  To review so far, we’ve visited the movement principles of strengthening and

  We strengthen the musculature that helps hold up the spine in its ideal Scurve position and that helps us move with correct biomechanics.

  We lengthen the musculature through stretching to assist the muscles in being able to perform their job easily of holding a neutral spine, and we lengthen the spinal discs through traction.

  But there’s one more modality within the realm of fitness that we can turn to that strengthening and stretching alone cannot fully facilitate—that of myofascial release.

  If that term is new to you, think of it alternatively as self-massage.

  By applying compression tools such as a foam roller or tennis ball to sensitive soft tissue, we greatly expand the tissue’s health and range of motion.

  Before we get into the affected tissues and techniques, let’s first come to a bit of an understanding about the role of

  FASCIA

  Our fascia is the great connector of the body. Consisting of thin, fibrous layers, our fascia is the connective tissue that not only covers our muscles but also organs, blood vessels, and nerves.

  Think of your fascia as the “stop and go” police of the body. Flexible by design, the fascia provides structure and support where it is needed while also allowing for the gliding movement of muscles and other internal structures as is necessary for locomotion.

  The many reasons that fascia’s elastic function may become compromised, thus inhibiting range of motion and interfering with the body’s optimal distribution of tension, include inactivity, inflammation, bad posture, injury, and others.

  When the fascial tissue becomes short and thick in this way, the body tends to compensate by moving in ways that are less efficient than nature intended—and often further exacerbate the problem.

  While of course we also want to address the root cause of fascial dysfunction depending on what caused it (for example, introducing more daily movement if the tissues have been affected by lack of activity), by practicing myofascial release we can help restore some of the damage that has been done.

  The result? Greater range of motion in our muscles, and improved biomechanics to help prevent pain in the first place.

 

Okay then, so which areas of the body tend to hold fascial tension that leads to low back pain?

  Truly the tension can reside anywhere in the body. Because fascia is the great connector, the chain of tissue can be disrupted at any point along the path. Fascial tension at the base of the skull could result in tight hamstrings. Tight neck flexors could be the culprit of your hip pain.

  It may seem a little far-fetched in our Western medical paradigm of localization and separation of body parts, but the body is designed to function as one unit, and research supports the fact that fascial adhesions may refer pain to different parts of the body that we may not expect.

  Because of this principle, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of experimentation. Through careful self-observation and the trying of these different movement principles and techniques, you can begin to unravel the mystery of your low back pain.

  That being said, there are some locations of the body where major culprits of fascial dysfunction reside that commonly refer pain to the low back. These are a good starting point.

  Common Areas of Fascial Dysfunction in Low Back Pain

  Glutes

  By now, you’re probably not surprised to see this on the list! Your glutes play a key role in all 3 of the movement principles in low back care— strengthening, lengthening, and releasing.

  The glutes are a great example of fascia’s downstream (or in this case, upstream) impact on different structures. I hardly ever hear anyone complain about their glute pain or tension—except perhaps if they’ve recently completed a challenging lower body workout!

  Yet I rarely encounter a student who doesn’t experience strong sensation in this area when applying the foam roller or tennis ball—very often accompanied by an alleviation of the chronic tension in their low back.

  Rolling the glutes can also help free up hamstring inflexibility, owing to the fact that the hamstring muscles originate at the sitting bones underneath the glute muscles.

  Remember how in Chapter 3 we discussed chronic hamstring inflexibility? If fascial adhesions in the glutes are clamping down on top of the hamstring origin, it will be impossible to stretch your way to loose hamstrings without first addressing the glute problem.

  Then of course, also keep in mind that tight hamstrings flatten out the lumbar curvature of the spine, and you see that low back pain can in fact be a tertiary symptom of the glute dysfunction that first impacts the hamstrings, that then in turn impact the low back.

  The body is miraculously linked together, which means that caring for our low back pain requires a comprehensive and self-aware approach.

  Quads

  Quads are another sneaky structure! Seldom do I find myself complaining that my quads hurt, although due to the fact that I teach fitness for a living, my quads are overdeveloped and always tight! You can bet that also affects the fascia that encases them.

  Poor gliding mechanisms in the fascia surrounding the quadriceps can end up shortening the hip flexors along with it, pulling the pelvis forward in an anterior pelvic tilt, and result in extension-driven low back pain.

  Prioritizing your quads in myofascial release techniques can be an effective strategy in your low back care.

  Lats

  Just as we spoke about lat inflexibility in the chapter on stretching, lats can also be a hotspot for fascial knots.

  As we learned earlier, the lats cover a wide amount of real estate in the back. Dysfunction in one area of the lats can have far-slung consequences all the way down to the lumbar spine and top of the hip bones, which certainly can contribute to low back pain.

  (As a bonus, I find rolling the lats to also be the most effective way to free up tightness in the trap region of the upper back and neck.)

  While you can use a foam roller for the lats, I especially love targeting different regions of the lats with the more concentrated pressure of a

tennis ball.

CHAPTER 6 Myofascial Release Techniques

  QUADS

 

  Place a foam roller under the right thigh, and extend left bent knee out to the left side. If the pressure is too intense, a soft pillow may be placed under the chest but do not rest all of your weight into the pillow. Keeping the right foot flexed, bend at the knee, then extend it long again. Repeat 10X, then explore gentle back and forth movement with the leg long for another 60 seconds. Repeat on the other side.

 

GLUTES

 

  Place a tennis ball under the right side of the seat, with hips off the ground. Fan the right knee out to the side, then return to beginning. Repeat 10-15X, then explore side-to-side movement on the ball for 60 seconds. Repeat on other side.

 

LATS

 

  Place tennis ball about 3 inches below the armpit, then roll ½ inch back (off the ribs). Lie down on your side over the ball in this position, resting head on extended bottom arm. Take top foot onto the ground in front of the body, and steady yourself with the fingertips of the top arm. Breathe deeply and relax into the ball for 3 minutes, then repeat on other side. (Also great for relieving neck and shoulder tension.)

CHAPTER 7 Other Considerations and Next Steps

  REVIEW

  To review, we’ve covered the 3 Movement Essentials for a healthy lengthen, and release.

  STRENGTHEN

  We want to be sure we’re strengthening our muscles in all 3 directions (forward and back, side-to-side, and in rotation unless otherwise instructed by a medical provider). We also want to make sure that we are strengthening not only our abs and low back muscles, but the other muscles that are integral to the health of our spinal posture—including but not limited to our glutes, hamstrings and quads.

  LENGTHEN

  For lengthening, we want to not only lengthen the muscles themselves, but also do decompression poses that use gravity to lengthen the spaces between the vertebrae in the spine.

  Important muscle groups to stretch include the back itself as well as the hamstrings (safely), sides of the waist, chest, hips, and lats.

  RELEASE

 

Myofascial release picks up where stretching ends. Desensitize the fascial connective tissue by using compression tools like a foam roller and tennis ball to self-massage critical areas related to the back.

  These areas include but are not limited to the quads, glutes, lats, and psoas.

  OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

  While the intent of this book is to address movement-based modalities to help soothe back pain, it’s important to keep in mind that not all back pain stems from purely mechanical causes.

  There are a host of contributing factors that can either cause or exacerbate low back pain—including such surprising considerations as nutrition, hydration, stress, and hormone balance.

  While the movement-based modalities can certainly aid in relieving low back pain, taking a comprehensive approach to understanding what may be causing your low back pain in the first place will serve you well in being able to heal it.

  (For example, I’ve found personally found a strong connection to my estrogen and thyroid levels and the amount of back pain I experience as a result of these being high or low.)

  I’ve compiled some of the research I’ve collected from experts in these respective fields as part of the educational content in my Back Bliss online program.

 

And, of course, knowledge won’t actually make you feel better until you put it into action!

  While the poses included in this book are designed to give you an immediate taste of some helpful poses and exercises, consistency is key.

  Also, because back pain is so unique, the stretches and exercises that work very well for one person may be completely different from those that work for another person.

  It’s a continual process of self-discovery. To give you all the tools I can in aiding this discovery, I invite you to try my Back Bliss 30 Day Challenge.

  This program incorporates 12 full-length class videos (ranging from 15-30 minutes in length), a daily schedule, robust exercise video library, as well as guest webinars from experts with backgrounds such as physical therapy.

 

 

You are welcome to try it as my guest free for 7 days.

  http://www.wellthyboss.com/back-bliss/

  From my heart to yours, thank-you for joining me. I’m sending you lots of healing thoughts as you learn to care for your precious low back!

Sources

  https://mayfieldclinic.com/

  https://www.frontiersin.org/

  https://learnmuscles.com/

  https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/

  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

  https://www.physio-pedia.com/

  https://thereadystate.com/

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