Teaching · Tue Dec 2, 2008
The Threats of Twisting
Don't make me do it!
If you’ve had low back pain, you know how incapacitating it can be. One wrong step, and some mysterious stranger stabs a knife between your vertebrae. If you haven’t, and you’re practicing yoga, please read this article on the threats of twisting.
The one thing I would add is an insight from Leslie Kaminoff (again): the lower back does not twist. Really. There’s only 5ยบ of rotation possible in the lumbar spine. It just follows the direction of the sacrum. We can get a feeling of twist there, by engaging the abdominal muscles and feeling them wrap around the spine, but most of our twisting happens in the thoracic and cervical spine. So T11-T12 is a common place for injury, since it’s the first really rotating spinal joint. Make sure you’re spreading your twist throughout the spine.
