TheHotYogaDoctor

Hi Gabrielle,

I have been working quite hard (all the time taking care not to push myself too much!) at deepening my backbend in this posture and now that it’s finally yielded results, I’m experiencing severe backpain which is worrying me somewhat.

I have experienced some pain in this posture in the past, but it disappeared after a while. This time round it’s different: been feeling it for two weeks now and no sign of improvement. 

I am not terribly knowlegable about the spinal column, I’m afraid, but the area affected is the vertebrae in the thoracic region of my spine and the muscles directly alongside it. The pain is most concentrated in the lower region and muscles most affected are on the lower right side.

Is this normal? And what can I do to ease the pain without ‘undoing’ the progress I’ve made…?

Your advice would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,
C

Hi Cyberry

Are you getting any other associated tension in the upper back, neck or shoulders? When you say there is pain lower right side, just clarifying that you mean in that same thoracic area.

Are you also saying that the vertebrae themselves feel tender or is it purely muscular? I am also wondering if you’ve had anyone look at it even your partner, to find out if there is a spasm in the muscles there.

It’s been over a day since your question, please tell me if the pain has abated even a little, what have you done to make that happen and if you are continuing to go to class? You have been feeling pain for 2 weeks - can I assume it is continuous or just in class?

Namaste
Gabrielle

Hi Gabrielle,

Thank you for your reply!

In answer to your questions:

No other associated tension is involved, and yes, whilst it is the entire thoracic area that is affected, it hurts most in the lower part. Would a muscle spasm be visible? Nothing untoward could be detected from sight, and on touch the muscles feel tight - but the overwhelming sensation is ‘bruised’.

The muscle pain has been continuous - during and outside class. And yes, the vertebrae are also tender - in class, predominantly in backbends (apart from half moon, fixed firm and particularly camel)and if I arch my back sitting here in front of the computer, I feel it quite distinctly. It feels as if there’s no cushioning between the vertebrae and they’re ‘grinding’(sorry, a more eloquent description escapes me ).

Despite my misgivings, I did go to class last night. I skipped the halfmoon backbend(could not ‘go there’), but I actually managed camel after one failed attempt. Strangely enough (!?), I feel an ever-so-slight improvement in the muscles today. Not sure about the vertebrae.

Look forward to your response!

Regards
Cyberry

Update;

Went to physio today. Said physio asked why I would uberhaupt WANT to do a backbend… He massaged my muscles a bit and fiddled around with the vertebrae - I heard a few tiny clicks, nothing major. No real or lasting relief. First he suggested my back muscles were not strong enough to support the strain placed on my spine while going into backbend. Then we did some tests on a machine - machines are always reliable, right? Turns out - according to machine - my back muscles are quite strong, in fact much stronger in comparison to my stomach muscles. So he advised me to come to his gym 2x pw for three weeks to work on exercises to strengthen tummy muscles.

Went to yoga too and related the visit to the physio. One of the instructors - national champion 2009 and as flexible as a noodle! - told me about her trials and tribulations which was somewhat encouraging since I assumed she was one of those very lucky few who was just ‘naturally’ incredibly flexible. I took it relatively easy today so class was fine. The pain isn’t really.

Quite a bit to think about thus.

Hi Cyberry

My thoughts have been about another recent theme that seems to be playing out elsewhere in the forum and that is about having enough core strength to support your backbend. This seems to be playing out here. Your physio concurs I think. Funny that he wondered why you would do a backbend! 

I know you probably can access resources to improve your core strength. In class it takes a concerted effort. In camel, if you normally put hands on feet, try just bringing hands into prayer pose and just go back. This will help you engage strength rather than letting the abs go while trying to get a bigger back bend by pulling on heels. It’s self-limiting and you really can’t go back too far. Hope that makes sense.

Namaste
Gabrielle

Hi Gabrielle,

Thanks for the camel tip, will try it in due course. After testing the waters in half moon today, I somehow went into a deep backbend the second time round. But in camel I could not go further than dropping my head back(!)and had to skip the second set. All a bit strange and very confusing…

Spoke to head instructor before class and she advised me not to take a break (as in time off) but to ‘take it easy’(50%). The latter is a concept I find hard to relate to as I feel like I’m slacking and the postures also just don’t ‘feel’ right.

As for the physio - I must say the question about the backbend did have a slightly alienating effect - as does a blind faith in measurements and calculations made by a machine. That said, improving one’s core strength cannot be a bad thing, so I will look into it although right now I doubt I will be able to a single sit up. 

Thanks again for your input.

C