A daily habit of stretching is not overrated. Most men and women suffer from hip pain due to tight hip flexors. Tight quads can often be mistaken for knee pain, and a lot of the back pain that plagues so many sedentary Americans is also attributed to tightness. I used to think I was prone to end up with a “bad back” as I get older because so many people in my family have back issues. I was even told by a doctor once that I am showing early signs of osteopenia. So I thought to myself, what can I do to prevent my back from failing me? Yoga became my solution.
The first thing to go for many of us as we age is our posture and gradually we loose our range of motion. Yoga is a great way to correct this as it involves dynamic stretching; which uses movement and/or speed to gradually increase your range of motion. The key is not to rush. You want to steady yourself in each pose for about a minute to allow your muscles to relax allowing you to deepen the stretch. Adho Mukha Svanasana, better known as downward facing dog, is a great pose to start in for stretching your back and hamstrings and lengthening your spine by opening your shoulders, which over time will improve your posture.
Tadasana, better known as mountain pose, is another pose to practice standing with correct alignment. Yoga.com describes the correct form for this pose, which starts by “standing with your feet about hip distance apart and parallel to each other, with your toes spread and pointing forward. Engage your calves and quads. Engage your core and slightly tuck your tailbone. Keep your shoulders wide and relaxed. Align your head so your chin is parallel to the floor, and the crown of your head is directly over the center of your pelvis. Raise your arms over your head, keeping them shoulder width apart. Be sure to keep your shoulders relaxed and down away from your ears. Hold for 1 minute.”
From here you can advance into Vrksasana, also known as tree pose. You start by shifting your weight onto one foot and elevating the opposite foot to place the sole of the foot on the calf or thigh of your standing leg. You will still need to have good posture to hold this pose. If your shoulders are slouched, as they are normally in everyday life, you would struggle keeping your balance because your body weight will be off center.
Plank pose is another great position to practice holding because it will strengthen your core taking some of the stress off your spine. Often times, we slouch from having weak core muscles. The more we slouch the more restricted and tight our other muscles become.
Bhujangasana or cobra pose is a great segway from plank pose and it will work to gently “stretch the spine and open the chest reversing rounded shoulders and upper backs” (Yoga.com).
You can also practice opening the chest and shoulder muscles by sinking into gomukhasana also known as cow face pose. Lengthening these muscles will improve your posture which will also release back pain.
Anjaneyasana also known as crescent lunge is a great pose to help deepen your quad stretch. To do this pose you begin by kneeling on one knee. Gradually you shift your back leg further back to open up your hips and press deeper into your front knee so that your front knee is directly above your ankle.
From here you can go into virasana or hero pose, which is the practice of sitting in between your feet.
Dhanurasana also known as bow pose is great for stretching your quads and your back. Start by lying on your stomach and grabbing your feet or your ankles. Then, lift up raising your chest up towards the ceiling and trying to gently raise your thighs off the floor. Hold here for one minute.
The key here in doing each of these poses is to practice holding for as long as you can while breathing into the discomfort. This is a process that will take time, but by being diligent in your practice you will obtain amazing flexibility helping not only to alleviate joint and back pain, but also in injury prevention.
2 Comments
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