What’s up, everybody? I am Patrick LeRouge. I’m an intuitive healing expert and the creator of the Live Pain Free Process. You can find me at livepainfreeprocess.com. I help people understand that everything is connected in the body. You just have to learn how to use that connectivity to eliminate pain quickly and efficiently. I’m going to talk about is a question I got about doing different yoga poses for back pain, specifically the rotation because a lot of people do a lot of rotational stuff in their back pain regiments. What I want you to understand is that there is a muscle system called the errectors. Your errectors run up and down your spine; it is the first layer of muscle tissue protecting your back. There’s another layer underneath that, and then there’s the rotational muscles for your spine. If you’re having back pain and you’re trying to do rotation, your errectors are a very strong set of muscles that does a number of things like flexing and extending the back, and it’s very, very strong for protecting your spine. Unless you actively get errectors to want to open and become long, you will not be allowed to rotate. If you are going to truly get the rotation back, you will need to get to the rotators of the spine by getting the errectors to calm down, so you have to really start working with what’s happening with your errectors.
Number two, which is the biggest one, is how you do the rotation. Let’s say you’re doing the rotation stretch seated and twisting around you. What’s happening during this rotation if you have back pain is that you will be working hard to rotation, causing a pulling rather than a stretch. This happens because of the way you are asking for the rotation. You are either using your elbow to push yourself, and then you look over your other shoulder. This is the traditional way of doing a back rotation, but unless you get your body to want to expand, it’s just going to protect it. That means you’re fighting itself, so the injury that you’re trying to correct is actually being targeted at that precise moment.
What I would love for you to do is when you do a rotational stretch, don’t go to the point of a good stretch; once you make it there, sit yourself straight up and take a deep breath. Let’s walk you through it. Cross your legs so you’re in a tight, girly cross. You’re going to put your elbow on the outside edge of your knee and then bring your sternum or your chest bone across your body, turning the opposite way you crossed your legs. Once you get that, you’re going to start to feel a stretch inside of your lower back and in the rotational aspect around your spine. Once you do that, straighten up, and add in your head turning and looking the same way your body is turning. Now, you’re getting a rotation all the way through your spine.
If you have back pain, go to where it feels slightly restrictive, and then lift yourself straight up and take a deep breath. It’s going to target right around your spine where it is restrictive. There is a deeper system around you spine called your craino sacral system, which nourishes the spine. When you twist slightly, you access that and bring out the tight spots. When you take a breath, that sack is going to push more pressure down through your spinal column, and it’s going to start stretching the areas that already had the restriction, so you have to start focusing instead of going into a full rotation immediately. Go into a little bit, look for restriction with your twist, and then take a breath. Every single one of your tight spots will start to get targeted. Now just take your time, and continue doing this slowly until they clear up.
That’s how you target this, but remember it doesn’t work efficiently unless you clear up the hidden issues that caused this back pain in the first place. For example, you could have issues going on in your hip and glutes (and I have plenty of things on your hips that you can start working with in my YouTube channel). Also issues within your shoulders could cause back issues as well. All those different aspects also have to be cleaned up because that’s why your back is hurting in the first place.
So when you’re doing your rotation, please focus on the aspect of clearing out your errectors first, then you do your rotation. If you’re in pain, do it with a breath. Let your breath be your stretching agent, not you pushing with your elbow using more muscle tissue to do it because then your body will just fight.
Please, if you loved it, share it. If you know somebody that has back pain that goes to yoga, or a yoga person in general, share it with them. Everyone needs to understand that there’s an easier way to work; we just have to figure it out. Until next time!
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