Autumn Qi Chats | Week 8
How your breath can alleviate low back pain!
This week’s Qi Chat leads us to discuss how you can prevent and treat low back pain via the breath!
There are ‘anti-threat’ pathways and they’re in your belly!
There’s a lot of understanding that the vagus nerve has an affect on our nervous system. The vagus nerve supports gut motility issues (ex. constipation) as it does your breathing and cardiovascular rhythm. But what’s not discuss (but should be) is the amazing pathway of ‘no pain’ that is correlated with vagal tone. This pathway via the vagus nerve is an anti-nociceptive pathway that can alleviate pain in the viscera which could affect the low back.
And as you’ve learned from me, strong breath work can increase vagal tone and adding abdominal exercises stacks up a great neurological stimulus your brain cannot ignore!
It’s as easy as 1 - 2- 3- 4…
Exercise 1: Kidney Breathing
Fold a bath towel so it’s 2 inches thick and about 4-5 inches wide. Lay your body across the towel on the floor. In today’s video I’m showing with a pillow. This relieves the tension in the low back. Breathe 3x with opposing abdominal holds. Tight tummy - inhale.
Loose tummy - exhale.
Exercise 2: Pelvic Tilts
Still on the towel, exhale as you tuck the pelvis but use your abdominals to pull into the tuck. Inhale and relax the tension as you ‘lift your tail’ creating a gentle arch in the low back. This is gentle and not tight. There should be no pain during this.
*If exercise #2 is too stimulating, return to exercise #1.
Exercise 3: Leg Lifts
Feel the weight sink into the floor as you lift one leg off the ground, engaging the glutes and hamstrings. Hold for 5 counts then slowly lower and return to 3 kidney breaths from Exercise #1. Repeat 2 more times on that same leg, always returning to the kidney breathing exercises to relax the low back. Switch to the other side and do 3x.
Exercise 4: Frog Leg Lifts
Squeezing the heels together, you exhale and engage the abdominals to lift the thighs off the ground as you keep the lower body tight. Return to the floor and repeat exercise #1 to relax. Do the frog leg lifts again 2 more times always relaxing the heels.
Neuro-Qi Tip o’the day!
Breathe to release
We’re going to go over the 4 drills from above
*Video posts every Friday by 11:30am MDT
Resources:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1058913906800070
