Quick Back Pain Relief

Quick Back Pain Relief
Jamie Ferrell
A writer, yoga teacher, EFT practitioner, and mother, Jamie lives and breathes helping others feel, get, and be better. A former MindBodyGreen contributor, she writes to create connections in the shared experiences of the human condition and to share ways to be more fulfilled. You can find more of her work at jamieferrell.com
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How It Works

For quick back pain relief, try this:

Stand up straight, with your feet together. Put your hands over your head, with the fingers of your two hands interlocking and your pointer fingers out. Stretch upwards towards the sky, engage your abs (to protect your back), and then slowly start bending your upper body downwards, vertebra by vertebra. Place your hands on the floor in front of you, let your head hang heavy, and begin "walking out" your legs and hips – keeping the soles of your feet flat on the floor and bending one knee at a time. Do this slowly so you can feel the full stretch in your back and hips with each knee bend.

When I do this I feel immediate relief in my lower back, more space and less tension between my bones – generally I do it for 30 seconds but you could do it for a minute if you need more time.

After you're finished, put your hands back together, engage your abs and slowly (again: vertebra by vertebra) come back up to a standing position and lower your arms. Or if you have time and/or are incorporating this into your yoga practice, you can move into Pada Hastasana (hands-to-feet pose). If you're going to move into Pada Hastasana, it might help to do a backward bend before starting this "walk-it-out" stretch – so that you've worked your back in both directions.

What You’ll Need

  • 30 seconds
  • your body
  • flat floor/ground

Difficulty

Easy Neither easy
nor hard
Somewhat
challenging
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challenging

Story

In Bikram Yoga, this is used as a quick warm-up before Pada Hastasana and for me, it's one of the most delicious parts of the class. On days that I don't have time to practice a full yoga sequence or take a class, I still do this bit to keep my back happy.

What do you think?

Jamie Ferrell
A writer, yoga teacher, EFT practitioner, and mother, Jamie lives and breathes helping others feel, get, and be better. A former MindBodyGreen contributor, she writes to create connections in the shared experiences of the human condition and to share ways to be more fulfilled. You can find more of her work at jamieferrell.com
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Jamie Ferrell
By Jamie Ferrell
940 - Ambassador
5 years ago

From the way this is written, it sounds like you'd make an excellent yoga teacher ;)

Heidi Sloane
By Heidi Sloane
1040 - Community Leader
5 years ago

Thank you! I'm not a yoga teacher, but my mom is ;)

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