With long stints sitting behind a desk or behind the wheel, it’s no wonder back pain has become a regular feature of today’s hectic lifestyle. But just incorporating a few yoga moves or making time for a few stretches in your day can go along way to loosening up your back and your life.

Yoga experts often say that yoga heals sore and injured back muscles reducing recovery time, preventing re-injury and reducing the risk of disability.

The physical benefits of yoga are numerous and one area where it is quickly gaining popularity is as a tool for combating back pain. Yoga can stretch and strengthen muscles to prevent and relieve back pain and tension and it can play an ongoing role in back care maintenance. Certain yoga styles can also assist back care on other levels by transforming emotions, enhancing positive thinking and creating deep experiences of peace and stillness. Perhaps it is because yoga has the potential of working so holistically that it can be so successful in the treatment of back pain.

Back problems are widespread and generally are under-acknowledged. Up to 80 per cent of the world’s population (especially in Western countries) suffers from back pain. In Australia, back pain is the third most common cause for taking days off work after headaches and the common cold. Moreover, anywhere between 50 per cent and 90 per cent of people who get back pain have repeat occurrences.

There is a lack of research on the impact of yoga on back pain but what studies there are show a promising correlation. A survey in a US magazine in 1985 showed 96 per cent of respondents who practised yoga reported relief from persistent back pain, compared to 23 per cent who saw neurosurgeons. A 2004 study on Hatha yoga demonstrated it could benefit individuals with chronic lower back pain (CLBP). A 2005 study showed Iyengar yoga was more effective than an educational program in treating functional ability, reducing pain intensity and reducing the use of pain medication among people with CLBP.

In an article in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers showed that Viniyoga reduced CLBP and increased movement function more quickly and had longer lasting benefits than conventional exercise or with the use of a back pain self-help book. The researchers believed yoga instilled a sense of relaxation and increased each individual’s awareness of how they sat, stood and walked. Dr Karen Sherman, one of the researchers, said: “The breathing ... component of yoga makes people more conscious of their bodies and of ways they move that might contribute to their back problems.” Some forms of yoga are particularly effective at increasing body awareness and retraining people to understand the limitations of their body and encouraging them to have good ongoing posture.

An Australian Dru yoga survey in 2005 showed over 84 per cent of practitioners experienced decreases in back pain with 44 per cent experiencing a strong improvement. Up to 90 per cent of those participants also noticed greater flexibility of the joints and spine and increased levels of strength — all important factors in ongoing back care.

Yoga experts often say yoga heals sore and injured back muscles reducing recovery time, preventing re-injury and reducing the risk of disability. Yoga can also act as a preventative, which is crucial as we spend so much time sitting in positions that compress the spine. A regular yoga practice improves posture and body mechanics and keeps the spine in proper alignment by rebalancing the underworked and the overworked muscles in the body (especially the postural ones). Unlike many other forms of exercise, yoga helps stretch and strengthen both sides of the body equally.