Relieve Low Back Pain | Reduce Low Back Pain | Canada's Leading Authority in Human Movement | Dev Chengkalath

One of the most common questions I hear in my physical therapy practice is whether or not my client should be doing yoga to help relieve their low back pain. Most of the time these clients had heard of a friend or colleague who had gone and within a few sessions had been able to resolve all their physical ailments and issues while building their bodies, muscles and fitness. 

While I’d love to give a straight-up, cut and dried answer, a “yes” or a “no” if you will, it’s not that simple.

As is common with physical rehabilitation and corrective exercise, there is not one answer that will be applicable to everyone across the board. What is true, however, is that there is no panacea.

When it comes to yoga, there are a few key points you do want to think about:

1. Invest in the services of a qualified instructor: Angela Plaquin was my first clinical supervisor in my first clinical placement during physio school. When I came under her tutelage, I was but a young grasshopper with great ambition, and little practical experience. Not only was she a phenomenal physical therapist, but she was an incredible yogi as well. I had an opportunity to attend one of her yoga classes and I can tell you I was amazed at her attention to detail, her biomechanical acumen and her combined knowledge of injury pathology and human movement. Another good friend of mine, Mina Khan-Lee, would also be the type of instructor I would have no hesitation sending my injured clients. Under her expert guidance, you couldn’t help but improve your situation. She has put in the time and effort to not only improve herself as a yogi, but as a teacher. While yoga instructors with the level of knowledge described above are rare, they are out there. These are the instructors you need to find and invest in, just as they have invested in themselves.            
   

   Mina doing what advanced yogis do.

2. Know your limits: This is pretty self-explanatory. Just because the person beside you is coiled up like a salty-pretzel, doesn’t mean you need to do the same thing. As well, just because the instructor at your local yoga class is telling you to keep bending or twisting or contorting to “release the toxins in your burning joints”, doesn’t mean you have to listen (I actually heard this type of statement at a yoga class a few years back). You are the master of your own body and only you are responsible for listening to what it’s telling you. If your back or knees are screaming in pain when you attempt a certain pose or posture, there’s probably a reason you shouldn’t be doing it. Pain is your body’s way of telling you something isn’t right. Know your limits.                
   

   Beyond most people's limits and not good for your back.

3. Yoga is not necessarily exercise: I have no doubt that this point will raise the ire of some of my yogi friends and colleagues. In my mind, yoga is great for posture, breathing, parasympathetic training and body awareness. However, it is very seldom going to initiate significant physiological changes to be deemed as high intensity exercise. Don’t get me wrong. If you are extremely de-conditioned or unaccustomed to those yoga poses or postures, they will be challenging. But very few people will practice yoga to an extent where high levels of muscular strength or endurance are required. If you look back to the root causes of low back pain (lack of knowledge, motor control issues and de-conditioning) yoga will help with motor control issues (such as posture, muscle imbalances, movement patterns, and mobility issues) but won’t really touch upon the other two issues. So to bring home the key point here, for most people yoga is not necessarily exercise, but may be a great complement to your complete GOYA Therapy program.

Part of a complete GOYA Therapy program

So in the end, under the care and attention of a qualified instructor, yoga may be a great adjunct to your low back rehabilitation program. As with all physical activity, know your limits and play within them. 

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath

P.S. Special thanks to Mina Khan-Lee for letting me use her incredibly awesome yoga photo for my blog. I will admit that I did spend all evening trying to hoist my body into that position. I will also admit that it was a stupendous failure.

You’ve taken the first two steps.

You’re educated about your problem. You’re well versed in the causes of your low back pain. You have the knowledge bombs needed to make the right choices and decisions.

Cognitively, you are ready to go. 

You’re also aware of the control issues at stake. You know you have to get your motor control back under your control. You know you have to assess and fix your posture, you know you have to balance your muscle imbalances, you know you have to optimize your mobility and you know you have to improve your movement patterns and break those bad habits. 

So what’s left?

Getting fit. 

The many benefits of getting in shape.

This really means undoing all those years of de-conditioning that you may have heaped onto your body.

De-conditioned simply means you’re out of shape. 

Being in a state of de-conditioning makes it harder for your body to deal with the daily stresses that it must face. This can include simple activities such as climbing the stairs, changing positions, lifting things, walking and yes, even sitting. 

If you’re not in the kind of shape you should be in, chances are, you’re using poor posture, your muscular system is not working on all cylinders, you’re not as mobile as you should be, and most certainly you’re using faulty movement patterns through compensation or bad habit. 

In order to help you fix your de-conditioning and all the other causes of low back pain, I’m going to re-introduce you to GOYA therapy.   

I discussed GOYA therapy a while back, but I think it is fundamentally important, not only for relieving low back pain, but for any physical therapy intervention for almost every single type of injury or corrective exercise program. 

Apply the principles of GOYA therapy wisely and consistently and you’ll soon see fitness levels that will astound even yourself .

Yours in fitness.

Dev Chengkalath

In this final installment of your low back pain fix-it plan, I was originally going to talk about deconditioning and its nefarious effects on your movement system.

I’m still going to write about deconditioning, however, I’ll also be writing about the miraculous GOYA therapy that can be used to fix it and your low back pain. GOYA therapy is so amazing it can even fix a whole host of other ailments, diseases and disorder as well.

That’s how good it is.

But first, let’s start with defining deconditioning.

You are out of shape. You are unfit. It’s that simple. You huff and puff after every set of stairs. The walk down your driveway is considered your daily marathon. Your body can therefore be considere deconditioned.

Severely Deconditioned

You may be carrying a few extra pounds. You may be carrying a few dozen extra pounds. This won’t help the cause either. To make things worse, if you spend 8-12 hours a day sitting, you aren’t going to be working your muscular, skeletal or cardiovascular system a whole lot. At least not according to those all important principles that I discussed here.

That’s deconditioning.

If you’re not in the kind of shape you should be in, chances are, you’re using poor posture, your muscular system is not working on all cylinders, you’re not as mobile as you should be where it counts, and most certainly your deconditioning combined with the above, will lead you to use faulty movement patterns as compensation.

In order to help you fix your deconditioning and all the other causes of low back pain, I’m going to introduce you to GOYA therapy.

The Ancient Art of GOYA

This ancient therapy has been around for centuries. Its history cannot be traced back to one culture or people as it has trancended the bounds of human migration. It has been practiced by the ancient Greeks and Romans, just as it was practiced by Aboriginals throughout the world. It was truly a ubiquitus and fundamental component of everyday life.

Alas, over the last hundred years or so, GOYA therapy has fallen to the wayside. Given up and forgotten. Lost to most. Replaced by pills and potions capable of masking symptoms but unable to alleviate the cause. Replaced by electrodes and mechanical devices.

The easy “solutions”.

This is where GOYA therapy really differs. It’s not easy. It takes time. Effort. Consistency. It’s hard work.

Many people don’t want to hear about it. These people want solutions to their back pain but will stop listening when GOYA therapy is mentioned.

“How can I try to explain, when I do he turns away again, it’s always been the same, same old story.”

Cat Stevens

But there’s also a strong undercurrent, a strong movement of people who want to bring GOYA back.

I am proud to say that I’m one of those people.

Are you?

If you are, stand up and join the ranks.

GOYA: Get Off Your Ass. Now that’s powerful therapy.

Dev Chengkalath