Does your lower back scream? How to make it happier

Are you part of the cause or the solution?

Lower back pain is common in aging adults. A quick Google search shows that anywhere from 39-84% of adults experience lower back pain at some point in their life. Yoga and core strengthening practices can give you the strength and mobility that you need to support your lower back, to both prevent pain, and help you through the pain when it happens.

Age related lower back pain often comes on gradually as stiffness or soreness. This pain can be caused by unsupportive shoes, sleeping on an old mattress, or poor posture.

All of your funny physical habits, when done over years, contribute to imbalances that can lead to pain. In my decades of experience as both a yoga instructor and acupuncturist, I find that most chronic pain can be traced back to one or more of these things.

Some Lower Back Pain Causes

Old or Unsupportive Shoes

One cause can be due to unsupportive shoes. Even if those shoes supported your body originally, over time, their support wears out. If you are a walker or a runner, when you've gone about 200 miles in your sneakers/running shoes, it's time to get new ones.

If you spend all day in heels or other shoes that "squish" your feet, it will affect how you walk and therefore affect your posture. Being able to spread your toes is important for your foot health and affects the rest of your body.

Foot problems cause pain in other parts of your body. How your foot hits the ground affects how you walk and move. When you compensate for foot pain, this travels up the body, and can cause lower back or even neck pain.

You can read more about the importance of posture in my post "Mom Was Right, You Should Stand Up Straight."

Old or Unsupportive Mattress

We spend (ideally) 8 hours each night sleeping. Sleep is when the body repairs and restores itself. When you sleep on a mattress that is old (over 10-15 years old), your body sleeps with less support than it did originally and this can cause pain.

If you wake up every morning with a sore or stiff lower back pain, chances are you need a new mattress. You might declare “but this mattress is only a few years old!” If you go to sleep without pain and you wake up in pain, it’s not the right mattress for you.

Posture

My favorite cause of lower back pain is posture. How you stand, sit, and move affects how your body (and your back) feels.

• When you hold a child on one hip, that affects your posture.

• If you are sit at a computer or stare at your phone, that affects your posture.

• When you only sit with one leg crossed over the other and never switch legs, over time, that affects your posture.

• If you lean on the arm rest while driving and never lean the other way, that affects your posture.

There are so many little habits that you have in your day that aren't necessarily problematic in and of themselves. The problem is when you repeat these habits over the course of a lifetime.

These small habits become more "permanent" adjustments and compensations in how you move through your day and eventually they lead to pain. The more your body is pulled away from center, the more pain and dysfunction you'll feel.

How Yoga Can Help

Yoga is a practice that is bilateral, meaning whatever you do on one side, you do on the other.

Humans are one-side dominant creatures who do not lead symmetrical lives.

• You brush your teeth with the same hand each time.

• You go upstairs or walk leading with the same foot every time.

• Even if you drive a manual car, each foot does different things when you drive.

Practicing yoga helps you move more symmetrically, thereby balancing out life’s imbalances. The more your practice, the more you move toward symmetry. I'm not suggesting that you practice 24/7, but having a regular yoga practice will help improve how your body feels.

You lose resiliency as you age and it takes longer to recover. If you get injured at age 20, you heal pretty quickly. At 50 it takes a lot longer.

Keeping your body strong and mobile can prevent a lot of problems later on. Core strengthening gives you lower back support and can help you lead a more functional life.

Yoga strengthens the lower back in poses like Cobra, Locust, Cow, and Bridge. You gain mobility in poses like Low Lunge, Half Split, Bound Angle, and Standing Half Moon, all of which affect the lower back.

Yoga poses to strengthen and stretch muscles that affect the lower back

This balance of strength and mobility is what makes yoga such a valuable practice while aging. It can grow with you, change with you, and adjust to meet the needs of your aging body.

I started practicing yoga when I was 23 and I can tell you, at age 52, my practice is very different now than it was when I started. I am much more mindful of why I practice, using yoga as a way to get in touch with my body and mind and keep both functioning optimally.

With a calm mind, I can move my body intentionally to stretch what feels tight and stiff, and strengthen what gives me stability. My yoga practice is no longer about looking good, it's all about feeling good in the body that I have. I want to stay strong and mobile for as long as possible. Yoga makes that possible for me.

Get your free Healthy Back After 50 Bundle! It includes 3 free videos to build core strength and improve mobility in the muscles that affect your lower back, as well as a free eBook which details 3 yoga poses to improve your Lower Back Health! Click the button below for your free Bundle!

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