beginner Yoga questions?

Question by Corey: beginner Yoga questions?
Hello!

I have just started learning/practicing yoga over the past week and I just wanted to check and make sure everything I am feeling is normal.

I am 17 and I am fairly active (I ride horses) and I have chronic lower/mid back pain. I was hoping yoga would help stretch and build muscle in my core and would help with the back pain. So far it has though I still often have to spend time on the heating pad.

I am very active but I am not flexible at all (can't touch my toes w/o bending my legs) and I am not as fit as I'd like to be. I also am very thin and I have to be careful not to burn off too many calories so I don't become underweight.

I have started using the video Element: Am and PM Yoga for Beginners. And so far I like it and it hasn't asked to much or put a whole lot of strain on my back.

I was just wondering if it is normal to feel popping and some pain when stretching? In general how long does it take to improve flexibility?

I hope to eventually join a class but since everything is 45 minutes away from me (I live in the hicks) I am just going to wait on that.

Thanks so much!

Best answer:
I'm no expert but I can give you my personal experiences.

When I first started, or when I stop for too long and come back to it, doing the yoga sometimes hurts my back while I am doing it. But from experience, I know that in the long run, it makes the pain much much better. But you can (and should) skip or alter the poses that make you feel too much pain. If it hurts to try and reach your toes, for example, just reach as far as you can without hurting yourself. Don't expect to get as far as the instructors. Try "props" such as yoga blocks under your hands in a forward bend or a belt around your foot for stretching your legs sitting or on your back.

When I started, it probably took a couple of months for me to notice significant change in my flexibility, but I am much older than you.

I also really like Rodney Yee's yoga for back pain. You can do all or any one of the sections at a time.

Help For Lower Back Pain

Article by Dave Roberts

To open, different specialists affirm that Yoga serves as a wonderful cure for back pain because it teaches its students on the precise ways to breathe properly, permitting the unsuppressed stream of oxygen and stresses on stretching-related exercises that help the body to settle down.

Stretching your body repeatedly serves as a 'right away' reliever for back pain by reducing the pain that accompanies it; so check that you cultivate the habit of stretching your body.

The extract from the skin of the willow tree has been popularly known to function comfortably in treating back pain because it contains pain killer properties that give noticeable comfort for the sufferer; several men and women who don't bother with taking such herbs have got respite from back pain taking such.

According to a pain respite study conducted by the National Institute of Health, acupuncture is a useful way of handling back pain; that's why several men and women all over the world are thinking about this Chinese alternative solution; nothing has to prevent you from attempting this route too as an alternative treatment for back pain.

Exercises that are centered on principal muscles around the lower back help to increase spinal support, elevate posture and increase flexibility in the spine! thence lessening any incidence of back ache; so when engaging in exercises, consider such exercises.

Exercise videos or DVDS on precluding and treating back pain are found for sale if you are enthusiastic to pick an exercise regime that will help to beef up your back and body as a way to help alleviate back pain.

So many men and women are turning to herbal remedies to help them cope with back pain. Such herbal remedies include the skin of the willow tree whose extract contains aspirin properties that alleviate pain. It won't harm you to consider such herbal remedies, especially if you have not yet got comfort from other remedies you tried in the past.

When procuring a handheld massager obviously for your back pain, you got to check that you go for value than brand; in addition check that the warranty clause satisfies you; a handheld massager comfortably eases back pain.

Your yearning to learn all you can concerning back pain and the several cures can be fulfilled on the Internet where you can access numerous websites online that give elaborate and detailed tips concerning it.

To close, a massage therapy may not be the most excellent back pain cure for you especially if your back pain is brought on by an inflammation of the muscles in the back and not brought on by a spasm of the back muscles.

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