By Dr Carla Cupido • September 24th, 2008

Consider the number of times you flex forward at the waist or hips in a yoga class. Lower back flexion in yoga presents a number of risks when done improperly. We often hear our yoga teacher telling us to hinge at the hips instead of the lower back. Let's consider what these cues really mean and offer in creating a safe forward bending yoga posture. First of all we have to go through a bit of yoga anatomy and biomechanics to understand the issues involved in this common movement.

Our spine is composed of twenty-four mobile vertebrae. The cervical spine includes the top seven vertebrae, while the thoracic spine is made up of the middle twelve, and the lumbar spine completes the count with the bottom five. Below the last lumbar vertebrae are the sacrum and coccyx. The sacrum is a triangular shaped bone that is actually the fused remnant of five sacral segments. The coccyx, also known as our “tailbone,” is an even smaller triangular bone that sits below the sacrum.

Both our cervical and lumbar spines take on a curve that is known as a lordosis. This lordosis essentially means that the cervical and lumbar curves' concave sides face the front of the body; while our thoracic curve's concave side faces the back of our body.

In-between each vertebra is an intervertebral disc. The basic functions of the discs are to act as vertebral shock absorbers and as spacers for the spinal nerves to exit the bony vertebral column. Our spinal cord runs down the inside of our vertebrae; each spinal nerve that divides from the spinal cord supplies a particular part of the body with neurological function. This explains many of the symptoms people get when they herniate or bulge a disc (burning, aching, pins and needles, tingling, pain, and weakness through particular parts of the limbs).

Intervertebral discs are round in shape with thick outer borders and jelly-like contents within the border. Each time we bend forward at the low back, the back side (posterior side) of the disc weakens. Over time, with excessive lumbar spinal loading or flexion, the disc develops microtears. ...

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Location:  Vancouver, CA

Dr. Cupido graduated from McMaster University with a degree in the Honours Bachelor of Kinesiology program. She went on to attend the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College from which she graduated as a Doctor of Chiropractic with...