Four Ways Yoga Reduces Back and Neck Pain

Through speaking with patients over years, we know that exercise is the last thing someone experiencing back or neck pain wants to do. While the urge to rest is strong, we encourage those suffering from pain, especially chronic pain, to try to move a little every day.

Why do we want to get everyone up and moving? Movement and exercise help to improve your spine health and alleviate pain. When you’re active, it improves your body’s circulation. That, in turn, helps to pump nutrients into your spine’s soft tissues and drain toxins. The more nourished your spinal structures are, the less likely they are to cause you pain. 

Yoga reduces back and neck pain. It is a gentle form of exercise that moves you through different poses ranging in difficulty. Yoga is a great way for those experiencing back or neck pain to exercise because it is very easy to tailor to your ability level.

Four Ways Yoga Reduces Back and Neck Pain
 - Improve Flexibility
 - Strengthen Muscles
 - Reduce Perception of Pain
 - Enhance Mental Health

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Improve Flexibility

Yoga poses help you to stretch your entire body and when done regularly can improve your overall flexibility. Improved flexibility can help to prevent back and neck pain from muscle strain.

Strengthen Muscles

Yoga strengthens the muscles in your body and especially focuses on strengthening your core muscles. Strong core and back muscles can help to stabilize your spine and prevent or alleviate back pain.

Reduce Perception of Pain

Most yoga practices include aspects of mindfulness and meditation. Both mindfulness and meditation help you to focus your mental energy, and often focusing your mental energy on reducing the perception of pain may actually reduce the physical pain you experience.

Enhance Mental Health

Yoga reduces back and neck pain by enhancing mental health and helping with stress management. Mood, sense of self, motivation, and sense of direction can all improve with regular yoga practice.

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