Scoliosis (abnormal curvature of the spine), osteoarthritis (wear and tear of the joints) or degenerative disc disease (ageing process leading to rupture) are associated with low back pain. Surprisingly, many causes of low back pain are non-specific. That can be quite annoying. You may be standing in pain, sitting in pain laying flat in pain for no reason. It is frustrating as you are no longer able to concentrate on work or study. You need to keep adjusting your position so as to reduce the discomfort.

Daniel Lieberman thinks non-specific lower back pain is caused by hours of sitting in modern lifestyle. Even I am a yoga teacher, I can’t avoid long hours of sitting when studying anatomy in my occupational therapy course. With prolonged chair rest, we do not need to use our muscles to support body weight. This weakens core muscles of the back and abdomen. In addition, many hours of sitting mean bending hips for many hours. With the shortened hip flexors, we overarch our back to compensate while standing and walking. Regular stretching and strengthening back muscles are important to our back health.
 
I’ve read a research article about the effect of occupational therapy and yoga in non-specific lower back pain. Occupational therapy intervention includes sleeping position for back health, postural training of sitting, standing and lifting and core strengthening exercise. After 10 week of training, it shows that people with non-specific low back pain indicate improvements in back strength and range of motion of the spine, with the combination of occupational therapy and yoga. Here are a few yoga poses shown for lower back pain.

1. Reclining hand-to-big toe pose ​

Tips: It changes the pelvic tilt when lifting one leg up towards the ceiling. Keep your spine in neutral position. Ideally, lower back touches the mat and chin to chest. So, it doesn’t hyperextend the lower back and the neck.
Benefits: Reposition the lower back for a better alignment to relieve back muscles tension

2. Extended triangle pose 
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Tips:
​ - Externally rotate the left thigh muscles when you take your left hand towards the left foot. Activate your legs.
 - Open up the right shoulder to deepen the side body stretch
Benefits:
 - Strengthen the thighs muscles to carry upper body weight or lift a heavy object
 - Strengthen the abdomen to support the muscles surrounding the lower back
 - Stretch the side body to relieve lower back pain (stretching the muscle attached to lumbar spine)

3. Bridge pose 

​Half moon pose
How about half moon pose? It’s one leg on the ground and torso is held horizontally. We still need to find the center of gravity and how it falls to one leg. In this case, When standing on right leg, we need to rotate the left hip. Opening up the left side of the body allows the center of gravity falls within the right hip, right leg and right foot.

In some cases, we are worried about falling over rather than poor balance. You may find it easier to balance next to the wall even you are not actually touching the wall. Practicing balance pose also helps us learn how to manage fear and stay focused. Both yoga for grownups and chair yoga for seniors involve balance poses in each class.
 
 Do you have good balance? Is balance exercise in your regular workout routine? If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
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From moving around on all fours to standing upright, human evolution allows us to free our hands to make and use tools. Standing and walking upright also keep us cool as only head and shoulders get exposed to direct solar radiation, rather than the entire back and neck. However, there are a few downsides of human evolution causing body pain.
 
When our hominid ancestors still moved around on all fours, the feet ad hands were absorbing force. Pressure created by gravity was more evenly distributed along the spine. 4 million years ago, when we started walking upright, our spine gradually lengthened and became more S-shape in order to balance our torso over our hips and feet. Standing upright and having a curved spine increase stress on certain points of the column, such as back pain and neck pain.

When we know which part of the body gets stressed, we can choose yoga poses that will de-stress it afterward. 3 chair yoga poses strives to balance opposing parts of the physical body along the spine, the front and back, the left and right. It is essential to keep our bodies pain-free and function properly.
 
1. Forward bend
Directions: Place four corners of the feet on the ground. As you Inhale, lengthen the spine; as you exhale, bend forward. Slowly walk your hands towards the shin or ankles. Feel the weight of the head.
 
Why?
By hanging your head upside down and bend forward, you take the pressure of gravity off your spine, increase the space between the vertebras, taking pressure off nerves and relieving pain.
 
2. Backbend
Directions: interlace the fingers and place your hands behind the head for gentle support. As you inhale, lengthen the spine; as you exhale, present the heart to the sky. Bring your awareness to the upper back, rather than the lower back.

I am always impressed with an 80-year-old who is able to squat down, bounce up, and so on. After a busy period of working and raising children, older adults have freedom to do what they feel like. It is kind of a rebirth, or successful aging. Isn’t it?
What does successful aging mean? It refers to the transition from middle age to older age, with a low risk of disease, high functional level and participating in social activities. Because of my job nature, I meet many happy and healthy seniors. That doesn’t mean they all can squat down and bounce up, without any physical issues. In fact, many of them have different level of pain from arthritis, hip/knee replacements, etc. However, they have an accepting attitude toward physical decline but learn to cope well with it. Isn’t it still a successful aging?
When we are driving, reading, watching TV, only forward-facing movement is required. The side, back and lower part of the body get neglected, which causes muscle strains, torn ligaments and stressed joints. The following yoga poses help stretch different parts of the body and relieve physical pain. 
1. Dancing warrior
Direction: Open right hip, extend the left leg and find the heel-to-heel alignment. Bring your left palm on the left thigh and raise the right arm up overhead. Repeat the other side.
Benefits: This pose helps lengthen the muscles between the ribs and pelvis, including parts of the lower back. When stretching the arm overhead, we can also stretch the upper back and upper arm.

Chair yoga makes yoga accessible to seniors. While you are seated on the chair, you are able to stretch every part of the body. If you are a bit of uncertain what you can do, this seniors exercise class in Bassendean or Vic Park organized by Connect Victoria Park is a good starting point. 
Have you tried chair yoga before? How did you go? Leave me a comment below. 

Our body gives us some signals when something is not quite right. However, we are too busy in this modern lifestyle. We ignore the signals and keep moving forward. Yoga is a magic to me  as I give myself a pause to listen to all little signals. I like putting Toe Stand pose into my yoga sequence as this pose stretches our toes, improves balance and strengthens our legs. Have you ever cracked 3 times in this yoga pose? Why are joints cracking? Child pose is supposed to be a relaxation pose. Why are the feet cramping? Boat pose improves our balance, but why the legs are shaking/ twitching so much? 
 
Cracking
Cracking seems a bit awkward in a group yoga classes, but somehow gives my joints a sense of relaxation. The sound is created by the gases inside the synovial fluid, which reduces friction between the cartilages of the joints during movement.  When we come into or out of the yoga poses, gases, (including oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide) are escaped from the synovial fluid. When we stretch the joint capsule, gases are rapidly released as bubbles causing the cracking sound.
 
Cracking seems normal in yoga practice but we should not keep trying to pop one’s joint. This creates hypermobility and leads to instability in the joint. This instability can cause the surrounding musculature to tighten up to support the joint. Also, if there is pain associated with a cracking noise, that may be other physical conditions.
 
Cramping
Cramping happens when we stretch the muscle in ways that it is not used to. We don’t stretch the top of the feet in our daily life. Many of us get cramp up when we enter Hero pose. Muscles cramps can develop due to imbalances in various body salts, sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium. When you are sweating out more water, sodium and potassium than you are taking in, those losses can make the nerves that signal your muscles to contract or relax extra sensitive.
 
In 60-minute yoga class, I usually plan the class with 15-20 mins warm up, so everyone slowly raises the body temperature, gradually increases muscle elasticity, gets the blood, oxygen and other nutrients flowing to the muscles.
 
Some people experience in stomach cramp when bending forward. Our internal organs are also muscles. Keep hydrated but do not eat 30 mins before yoga. The gastrointestinal tract and other muscles thus do not compete for blood flow at the same time.
 
Twitching (Shaking)
My upper arms used to be quite weak. I kept my head down while I was in the corporate world and didn’t realise I had lost its strength. I thought my arm was going to break off in my first side plank pose. It was twitching so much and eventually I fell on my elbow.
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Muscles are made up of fibers that the nerves control. Some of the fibers rest while the others work in yoga poses. For example, in boat pose, we activate abdominal, adductors and quads. Stimulations to the nerves cause your muscle fibers to twitch. Twitching can occur because lactic acid accumulates in the muscles used.
As your muscles get stronger from regular practice, the fibers learn to co-ordinate. Twitching will disappear till you try a more advanced yoga poses. Little twitching has no harm and it is a way to build physical strength. However, if that is too much, back off from the pose. We don’t over do. Strength will come over time.  

​Tell me something about your yoga experience. Any questions about how your body reacts in yoga poses?