Lower back pain in bridge position

Hi all,

This is on behalf of my girlfriend, who is a yoga enthusiast. She noticed pain in her lower back doing bridge and upward dog/seal stretch last November. She had previously not experienced any pain or problems with her lower back. No particular incident preemted the pain, she just gradually started to notice the pain during her normal classes.

When in a normal/neutral bridge with knees bent and the weight evenly divided between legs and arms, or weight slightly more on legs - she experiences the pain. The pain intensifies if she tries to push her hips and butt upwards -something her instructors encourage. This is to put weight in legs in order to be able to stand up from bridge, something she is trying to master but has not yet.

If she shifts her weight to her arms when in bridge the pain lessens and sometimes vanishes. She has very open shoulders and is able to push her weight toward her arms until her knees and thus legs straighten (thoracic bridge), but when she goes this far the pain in the lower back re-emerges.

The pain can also appear if she is simply lying on her stomach in order to sleep.

Has anyone experienced something like this? How should she get rid of the pain? Her goal is to be able to drop down into bridge and then stand up again, but her pain is keeping her from reaching this goal, also because she is worried about further injury. 

She has been doing ashtanga yoga for about six years now. She has always been more mobile than strong, and has had other injuries (hamstrings) due to her natural mobility but muscle weakness in yoga.

Thank you for reading and we appreciate any feedback!

If she has not the necessary thoracic spine mobility probably his teacher should revisit his knowledge about bridge development. i would like to see if possible a picture of her bridge.

Hi, 

Thank you for reaching out.  I can not give any medical advice but I can give you some of GymnasticBodies recommendations when training bridge work. 

First, Id recommend that she get her back checked out and make sure that she doesn't have a severe injury. I only say this because she is experiencing pain when lying on her stomach. She may also be over training her bridge and not adding enough core work to balance out. Taking a break from bridge may be best for now until she figures out the cause of the pain. 

In Gymnastics Strength Training we focus on opening the shoulders first for bridge work. The GB thoracic bridge course starts all athletes with an elevated bridge, this allows for the shoulder to open with out creating any pain in the lower back. If she is looking to continue with her bridge training Id recommend starting the GB stretch course to balance out her mobility with strength. 

Thanks for the quick replies! I have added a photo of her attempt for a thoracic bridge below, where she experiences lower back pain.

Is she feeling pain in this picture? 

Yes, unfortunately. 

Can you send another picture where she is not feeling pain?

IN order to achieve the full thoracic extension the lower back must be extend a bit, this for sure. rarely the upper back units extend without involving the lower region (of course the involvement it is very low). basically I would work with feet elevated and gradually build up the full leg extension. give her a try with legs elevated.

Also moves the hands closer, they are a bit wide.

Something is being irritated in her lower back when she is in this position. Most likely to much pressure on a spinal structure, perhaps the facet joints between two of the vertebrae or perhaps even on a disc or ligament. 

Basically, she needs to back off from practising the bridge in these ranges. Practice in the pain free range of movement. If it hurts tgen stop doing it and allow the body time to heal.

Elevated bridge work would be better. See the GB stretch courses. If she has an imbalance between strength and flexibility then this needs to be addressed. 

The photo below show her in a neutral bridge without pain - the weight is in her arms.

But photo below here is when she experiences pain again, when shifting weight to her legs (in preparation to stand up):

Quite simple actually; her back is not yet ready to perform thoracic bridges with her feet on the floor.  Rest from all bridge work for 1-2 weeks and then she may again reinstitute her bridge work; but using only with elevated bridges.

If she still encounters pain, then she must once again discontinue all bridge work for several works and then begin the Thoracic bridge series course from the beginning.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I have found most people that perform yoga are mobile yet are quite weak through the range of motion they have. I recommend to reduce the bridge work to a pain free range and focus on building strength with Foundation.

Alessandro, Tanya, Wesley, Mark and Coach Sommer,

Thank you so much for your quick and good replies! I will advice her to back of from the bridge work for some weeks, then start focusing more on thoracic bridge mobility with elevated feet and the development of strenght through the range of motion (plus additional core work. I guess elements from the Side Lever progression would be beneficial). 

All seven foundation exercises and handstand are integrated so they all will help the thoracic bridge.