I'm working on getting over a back injury about five years ago, and I find movements like this really difficult! It's mostly problems in my piriformus and sciatica, from being rearended.
I can plank in a stationary fashion, and slow yoga through downward dog and sun salutations, but things like mountain climbers really set off my back and hips. :( I want to be able to have something like this control of movement again someday, but this is a bit high impact yet.
@crimsonclad, I have an old traumatic back injury that results in a frozen sacrum and gets a bit more cattywhompus moving up from there, and my sacrum or pelvis will click in and out, or pop, at certain angles...
the most helpful thing I have found for me is called "spinal release yoga," or sometimes "therapeutic yoga"... it's very simple and gentle, we might do 4 laying down postures in an hour and 15 mins, and it aims at actually releasing muscular tension at a deep level, rather than stretching or building muscle. It has been amazing for my hips, lower back, and, thusly, the rest of my body... might be worth checking out if available where you live.
The other thing that has helped me a lot is the Gockhale Method, a postural method, and the book 8 steps to a pain-free back, which is about what you can do passively to return your spine to alignment, whether reclining, sitting, walking, etc. etc.
thanks, I will definitely check this out!! That sounds exactly like what I need. Tension is a huge issue; once it builds, my body freezes right up and I get shooting pains. I did physiotherapy and saw a kinesiologist for two years, but it got quite expensive and I'm largely 'fixed' from that angle.
mmmhmm, yeah. It's good you're taking care of it, that sounds like it would be a hard thing to deal with. I don't know much about sciatica, but have you given any focus to inflammation reduction as an approach?
I hadn't thought of this, so much, as it's not an inflammation that you can see... but, it makes sense in relation to the type of injury and the way I experience pain. My kinesiologist also explained that my body and nerves are 'attuned' to pain now; the default response they have is to fire pain, even though I am no longer hurting myself with activity, since my bones and muscles have largely healed. A lot of it is slow training and exploring, to teach my body to stop overreacting and protecting me now that I don't need it.
I would look into it Crimson. It's crazy how widespread of a condition it actually is in most industrial nations. And there's a lot of variations of it, but you can find out first by reading about it, but second by trying out inflammation reducing techniques/diet and see if it affects the pain.