Yoga poses for back pain during pregnancy is a simple powerhouse of resources that cost very little. This blog details yoga poses for back pain during pregnancy and why back pain comes with pregnancy. With additional tips and tricks to help your back in pregnancy and alleviate back pain.
Why do pregnant woman experience more back pain?
Pregnant woman experience more back pain, especially in the third trimester.
This is due to the weight of the growing belly and breasts, adding more pressure to the hips and pelvis. Therefore puts extra pressure on the spine.
To counteract this added weight, the back then has to work a lot harder, especially the lower back where the babies weight sits.
Yoga floor poses to relieve back pain during pregnancy
Yoga is great for lengthening muscles freeing up space and creating more flexibility for the body.
These floor poses can really support relieving the back in pregnancy.
- Childs pose (balasana) to all fours
- As you sit toes together knees apart, forehead on pillow or floor.
- Think about lengthening the lower back with each inhale as you fill up your inner space.
- By pressing the hands into the floor on each exhale
- Maintain straight arms, as much as you can
- This can create length and space to your back.
- After a few breathe’s in Childs pose on your 4th inhale, come up onto all fours and as you exhale, move back into Childs pose.
- In Childs pose
- Walk your hands over to the right feeling the stretch along the left.
- Breathe for 5 breathes here.
- Inhale to centre and exhale to other side
- Breathe for 5 breathes.
- On all fours
- Reach your right arm in front, in line with shoulder and reach your left leg back in line with hip.
- Look in-between your hands to maintain length to your neck and back.
- Your torso doesn’t move, think about lengthening your arm and opposite leg in different directions, which in turn can release the lower back pain and build up transverse abdomen muscles needed.
- If this feels a bit to much, only lift up one arm/leg at a time and concentrate on finding length and reach from the lift.
- Purring cat to neutral pose
- Im not a fan of teaching cat cow to pregnant woman, as cow creates a pulling of the placenta which I wouldn’t want to risk teaching. If it is in your practice and you feel fine doing it great.
- As an alternative I teach neutral imprint.
- Purring cat is where you gently round the back in, tucking your chin to your chest, creating instead of an angry cat back, try a purring cat.
- Be gentle and loving to your body.
- Instead of doing cow whereby the pelvis tilts the opposite way, dropping the tummy to the floor, thus pulling away from your baby, we go neutral back.
- Try 5 purring cats with your breathe.
Standing yoga pose sequence to relieve back
These standing yoga pose sequence can be done throughout pregnancy to support relieving the back.
- Knee lunge
- Place one knee on the floor under your hip and the opposite foot on the floor at a 90 degree angle.
- Make sure your knee is in line with foot and not going over your ankle. If it is, lengthen your stance.
- The arms can reach for the sky, keep your palms facing towards each other.
- This pose can be turned up a notch by lifting the knee that’s on the floor and coming into a high lunge.
- Lunge pose, not only opens up the hips,
- It builds muscle strength needed for birthing
- Can generate some extra room for you and baby.
- By gently tucking the tailbone it naturally creates length to the spine.
- Warrior 2 to side angle pose
- From a lunge turn your back foot out 90 degrees to open out into warrior 2 pose.
- Reaching your arms in opposite directions and maintaining your baby belly in the centre.
- Gently tuck the tailbone
- Ground your feet.
- Hold warrior 2 for a few breathes
- Remember the warrior that you are
- After a few breathes, reach front arm towards front knee
- Reach the opposite arm in line with your ear, bicep as near ear as possible.
- Continually reach over your head, opening the side body, tailbone to mat, lengthening the back.
- Modify as feels good to you and baby.
- Remember to switch sides.
- Rag doll
- Forward fold your body head towards your feet and have your feet as is most comfortable for you and baby.
- Be mindful that this pose can create dizziness.
- Bend your knees, this will help lengthen your back.
- Down dog
- Is a fab posture for all round strength and length.
- If you have regular yoga practice, its a great pose for back lengthening throughout pregnancy.
- For those who have just begun yoga, it may feel a bit tough, especially towards the third trimester.
- Squat (Malasana Pose)
- This pose is a go to for lengthening and releasing the back
- Can also build up pelvic floors muscles
- Strengthens the legs
- All power house muscles for labour
- Goddess pose
- The goddess of squats and very good for lengthening the back by gently tucking under the pelvis and giving your baby a cuddle.
- Tightening the pelvic floor muscles helps to hone in your ability ‘you’ve got this mama’ mindset.
- Breathe whilst holding this pose
- This is a favourite of favourite squats, even today for giving focus, strength, determination and vitality.
- Adding in the lions breathe as the hands push forward, keeping arms inline with shoulder height, can increase the cardio challenge to this pose.
Wall workout to relieve back pain
As I entered trimester 3 I found using a wall, much more beneficial way of releasing my back.
Our bumps only get bigger, and the ability and room to move becomes more limited. In using a wall it can be a great alternative.
- Walk your hands down the wall in line with shoulders.
- Have your feet as wide as is necessary for you and baby.
- On the inhale breathe, create the space and as you exhale, press your hands against the wall
- Focus on length and release to the lower back.
- Try five breathes
- Back against the wall
- Bend your knees no lower than a 90 degree angle
- Tuck tailbone
- Lengthen back
- Hold for a few breathes
- Come up to stand
Sitting exercises for back pain during pregnancy
- Pigeon pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana)
- Helps stretch and open the hip flexors, which in turn helps support the knees and the lower back, by lengthening it.
- This works the inner thighs, hamstrings
- It relaxes the psoas and piriformis muscles.
- All connected to relieving lower back pain.
- This pose can be done in a few ways and it really depends on what trimester you are in and how long you’ve practiced yoga, for the most effective one, for you.
- There is an even simpler one which is sitting on a chair and placing the outer edge of your foot just above the knee, working your knee, inline with foot. Great for office workers.
There are these pregnancy variations to this pose as shown in the photos.
- Butterfly pose (Buddha Konasana)
- This pose opens up the hips, inner thighs, hip flexors and back.
- Bring the souls of your feet together.
- Separate the knees
- Tuck tailbone
- Butterfly your legs by raising them up and down, which will help open up the hips and give
Birthing ball back saving exercises
These exercises are great to do on your birthing ball
- Half moon seated
- Try a hula hula circle with your hips
- Groan out those sounds.
- Get some space in those glorious hips
- Stretch the arms up over your head and interlaced or separate the hands.
- Creates space in the sides of your belly
- Helps at lifting up out of your lower back
- Imprint to neutral spine pose
- Sitting on your birthing ball with feet as wide as your pregnant body needs and feet under knees, your spine is in a natural neutral curved position and your pelvis is in an anterior (frontal) tilt.
- With your hands on your hips to help awareness, that its the muscles below your hips your using, lift your pelvis up towards your baby on your exhale, giving your baby a gentle cuddle.
- This is imprint spine.The birthing ball will roll slightly forward as you lift the pelvis up.
- As you inhale back to neutral spine, the ball will roll slightly back, and as you exhale again, gently lifting your pelvis too baby, the ball will move slightly forward.
- Repeat fifteen times with your belly breathe.
- Try to do three sets, of fifteen daily.
- Gains space and length to the lower back
- Works with your breathe
- Creates room in the hips
Breathing exercises for back pain during pregnancy
By working with deep breathing as you inhale and finding length with every exhale. It can be a back pain saving remedy, working with our breathing, when the back pain starts feeling too much.
Being mindful and aware of how we breathe can enable us to begin to change it.
By breathing past our chest and into our belly and baby it can feed our body, baby and muscles better.
By focusing our breathe down past our baby, towards our perineum, it can through practice create length to the back.
Other additional exercises for back pain during pregnancy
There are other gentle exercises as well as the yoga poses for back pain during pregnancy, that i’ve just explained.
The 3 exercises below, can support and lengthen the back in pregnancy like:
- Walking
- perhaps waddling can help ease the back
- Aqua aerobics
- Try joining a pregnancy class
- It’s great way to meet other expecting mums
- Have fun and keep fit
- Great new way of socialising with the ability to share similar concerns and questions in guidance within expecting a little one
- Swimming
- Has a weightlessness feeling and is super in pregnancy.
- By breathing in the water, it encourages our body and mind to connect through breathing properly.
Tips to help back pain during pregnancy
- A healthy back starts with a good posture.
- It is very natural for our posture to be completely out of our usual gravity norm, when pregnant. However that doesn’t mean we cannot try to be more mindful of it. Try to imagine a golden thread pulling you up from the crown of your head, lengthening your back, chest forward.
- Sit on a birthing ball
- Helps distribute weight more evenly and facilitate better posture and enables more room and space for the hips.
- This can encourage a much more comfortable alternative to the couch.
- There are additional birthing ball exercises here which can support a gentle workout in pregnancy
- Using a pregnancy pillow
- Can support the back in many ways.
- It can be used whilst sitting for putting behind your seat to increase support to the back.
- Can be used for lying in bed by placing one knee over the pillow, it can increase height to the leg, giving space for the hips and length to the back.
- A saviour for sanity and getting enough sleep that our baby, body and mind needs.
- Bending your knees
- Supports, lengthen’s and loosens, the lower back. This sounds very simple, but bending the knees is very necessary, to feel length to the lower back
- If you feel any pinching or tweeking in your back
- Back off the exercise.
- Listen to your body and baby
- They both hold your answers.
- Ask your partner for a massage. It can release muscle tension create a connection for you both and support you through pregnancy.
- “No pain no gain” saying is true, however not when your pregnant.
- Therefore being gentle with yoga poses for back pain during pregnancy, for your growing body and developing baby.
Tools to help back pain in aiding Yoga poses in pregnancy
- birthing ball
- Deluxe Comfort Pillow Side-Sleeper Prenatal Pregnancy Unique L-Shaped Design-Superior Comfort-Body, White
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