Key Facts of Back pain
- 84% of people worldwide will experience back pain at some point, being equally common across all age groups.
- In 2020, low back pain (LBP) affected 619 million people globally and it is estimated that the number of cases will increase to 843 million cases by 2050, driven largely by population expansion and aging.
- Prevalence increases with age up to 80 years, while the highest number of LBP cases occurs at 50–55 years. LBP is more prevalent in women.
- Scans are only needed when a serious condition is suspected (cancer, fracture, infection), which accounts for only 1% of all back pain worldwide. Scans almost always show something, and it is poorly linked with back pain. Many of these findings are common in people without pain.
Yoga is the best natural remedy available today for most of our lifestyle-related disorders. Whatever the cause, Yoga can resolve the issue. Sometimes the problem is muscular, sometimes the issue is mental. Yoga can bring harmony between the body and the mind.
Causes
It is mainly caused due to lifestyle problems. Basically you need to have strong muscles and movement capability too. So, doing Yoga everyday is the key or you can choose to do different types of exercises everyday. For example : one day you go to the gym, next day go swimming, next day do cycling, next day go for yoga, if you do like that, you will have great physical health. Yoga is the only regimen in which spinal movement is given maximum importance and spinal health can be
These are the main reasons for back pain.
- If you are doing no exercise at all. You have a sitting job or a standing job or you are a couch potato etc.
- If you are doing similar exercises everyday. You do a lot of gym but no stretching or you are only into running or cycling etc.
- You are having a lot of mental stress.
- You are involved too much into sensory pleasures.
- Accidently you back receive a jerk more than it can take.
- Sometimes you try to lift heavy weights from the floor and you are not habitual to that.
Anatomy
When back pain happens there is one of these 2 situations :
1. Loose back muscles and a lot of pressure on it
Because of loose muscles the pressure on the lower back is directed to the spine. For a person whose back muscles are strong, the pressure is taken by the muscles and the spine remains stressless and protected. But, if the muscles are loose, pressure is on the spine and if this condition stays for a very long time, pressure causes various problems in the disc. The condition can be anywhere from disc degeneration (the disc weakens over time, but its contents remain intact) to sequestration (the disc ruptures and the nucleus spills out, often causing nerve inflammation and irritation)
2. Tight back muscles and muscle fatigue
This happens when the back muscles are stiff and tight. This continuous tightness in the back muscles makes it tired and fatigued, which causes pain. In this condition the spine becomes less mobile. The spine is not damaged in this condition but the discs are getting dried up slowly and slowly. And because of this the mobility becomes less. Now, in this condition if the body is made to bend in any direction, there is a high risk of disc rupture.
Precautions
Precautions mainly involve keeping the body mobile. So, avoid being in one position for a long period of time. Whether it is a sitting position or a standing position or even lying down. Change your poses and keep your body mobile.
- You can walk after every 1 – 2 hours of sitting.
- Do some kind of exercise or movement daily.
- Take less stress in life because mental stress makes it worse.
- Take Abhyanga massages or deep tissue massages regularly.
- Eat easily digestible food.
- Yoga is the best thing that you can do to yourself.
- No smoking or drinking.
- Non Vegetarian food.
It is sad to know many people are suffering from this and could not figure out the reason behind it.
Treatment
Yoga can make the condition better. It can heal you back from any level of condition. There are some things to be done on a regular basis and some things to be avoided completely at least for a month to enable recovery.
Practices to be avoided
- Sitting forward bending asanas like dandasana, paschimottanasana, janushirshasana or any type of sitting forward bends have to be avoided completely.
- Standing forwards bending asanas like paadhastasana, prasaritta paadottanasana etc.
Practices are to be done compulsorily every day. You can modify the practice as per your condition. You can use props too:
A) Supine Practices
- Leg raise (take support under the tailbone and you can keep the legs bent too)
- Cycling
- Sit-ups
- Pawanmuktasana
- Setubandhasana
- Chakrasana
- Matsyasana
- Supta Natrajasana
- Sarvangasana as much as possible
B) Table Top
- Cat – Camel
- Vyaghrasana and variation
- Shashankasana Bhujangasana combo
C) Supine Practices
- Shalabhasana
- Vipareet Shalahasana
- Bhujangasana
- Triyaka Bhujangasana
- Dhanurasana
- Sarpasana
D) Supine Practices
- Taadasana
- Vrikshasana
- Ardha Katichakrasana
- Katichakrasana
- Trikonasana
- Parshvakonasana
- Ashwa Sanchalanasana
- Veerbhadrasana 1 & 2
- Ardha Chakrasana
- Hastottanasana
- Natrajasana
- Utkatasana
- Utkata Konasana
- Malasana Squats
There are so many other practices that you can do. Everything cannot be mentioned here but you must have got an idea of what has to be done and what has to be avoided. You can choose a variety of practices that are similar to the above-mentioned practices.
Allopathic Angle
In allopathy most of the times muscle relaxants and painkillers are given so that the person feels some relief. For emergency situations or extreme pain situations, it is okay to go for these symptom treating solutions but it should not become a habit. And as we all know, exercise and movement are the real medicines for such issues.
Conclusion
Problems like back pain can be easily avoided and treated with the help of Yoga. But make sure you have proper guidance, otherwise the situation might get worse. All the best to everyone who read the blog. Hope you make the situation better for yourself or others. Keep it up!
