Chiropractor Palmerston NT? Why A Jammed Lower Back Often Eases With Yoga

By Chris Lalor, Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and Certified Yoga Therapist, and Dr Stuart McGill, Yoga Teacher, Flametree Yoga Darwin

Chiropractor Palmerston or yoga: the short answer

Looking for a chiropractor in Palmerston NT because your lower back feels jammed? Think about yoga as well, or instead. A major US doctors’ guideline puts yoga and spinal manipulation (the hands-on adjustment a chiro gives) side by side for long-term low back pain. Yoga is also something you do yourself, every week, and it builds strength and flexibility together. Our nearest studio is about 10 minutes from Palmerston at Coolalinga, there are live online classes, and 12 classes cost a newcomer $59.50.

The page in short:

• Many people hold tension in a lower back that is more compacted than it should be.
• Kathy Simonik’s hands-on therapist told her: “You need to do yoga.”
• A US guideline lists yoga and spinal manipulation side by side.
• 12 yoga classes cost $59.50, at Coolalinga or online.
• A teacher and a group make it easier to keep going.

Why does your lower back feel jammed?

Here is what we consistently find when people start yoga, in our Coolalinga classes and everywhere else we teach. A lot of tension is held in the lower back. It is often more compacted than it should be, as if the spine has settled down onto itself. And in daily life it hardly ever gets lengthened. We sit in the car, sit at a desk, sit on the couch.

No wonder people look for someone to free it up, and a chiro adjustment can feel like a release.

In class we take a different road to a similar place. Easy, doable forward bends to a wall, a rail or a chair let the lower back lengthen, with the legs straight and working. Standing poses build strong legs that carry the body. Poses that broaden the back give it room. Then the breathing and quiet attention in class let stress go, and as stress lets go, so does a lot of the tension held in the lower back, and in the shoulders and neck too.

That is our experience as teachers, not a promise, and we teach yoga, so we have an interest here.

Chiropractor Palmerston alternative: a forward bend to a rail

What did a hands-on therapist tell Kathy?

Kathy Simonik, an American yoga student, wrote about her back for Yoga Chicago. She had years of back surgeries, injections, physical therapy and strong painkillers. Later she found a naprapath (a hands-on therapist who works on muscles, ligaments and connective tissue). With his help, she says, her body started to loosen up and the pain substantially decreased.

But she was still in a lot of pain. Then her therapist said: “You need to do yoga.” His treatment would still help, she writes, but she needed to do some work on her own.

She went to a yoga teacher and practised three to five times a week. In time, she writes, she exceeded her dreams. And she kept seeing her therapist twice a month. Hands-on work and yoga, side by side.

Her story is her own: a different style of yoga, private lessons, and no link to Flametree. But it is the point of this page. Yoga as well as hands-on care, or instead.

We teach Iyengar yoga. Mr BKS Iyengar was the 20th-century teacher who did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered props such as chairs, blocks and belts. His style is sometimes called modern classical yoga.

What does the research say about chiro and yoga?

No trial has put yoga and chiropractic care head to head, so we will not claim one beats the other. What does exist: a 2017 guideline from the American College of Physicians lists yoga and spinal manipulation in the same group of first choices for long-term low back pain. And in a trial of 320 adults with long-term low back pain, 12 weekly yoga classes did as well as 15 physiotherapy visits. The full research is on our Chiro Darwin? page, and more on backs on our yoga for back pain page.

What does yoga add?

Whatever a chiro does for you, yoga is likely to do some portion of it too, sometimes more, and it can sit alongside it. It also builds muscle and bone strength, balance, calm and better sleep. Flexibility comes from extending your range of motion (how far a joint can move), and that happens as you learn to straighten your limbs.

We use standing poses, twists, forward bends, supported backbends, restorative poses with props, and pranayama (yogic breathing). The wider list, including Dr Timothy McCall’s, is on our benefits of yoga page.

A chair makes the forward bend doable

What does it cost, and will you keep it up?

In our experience a chiro or physio appointment often costs $100 or more, and a course means several visits. At Flametree a newcomer gets 12 classes for $59.50. That is about 12 hours of yoga for less than one appointment.

Then there is doing the work. Home exercises bore many people, and they stop. A review of 20 studies in physiotherapy clinics notes that not doing the treatment and exercises could be as high as 70 percent. In a class, a teacher takes you through it, in the studio or live online, so it gets done.

There is also the lift of doing it together. In a trial of 627 older adults in exercise classes, the groups set up to help people feel connected attended more often. You make friends too. In 148 studies with 308,849 people, those with stronger social ties had a 50 percent higher chance of survival. That is a link, not proof, but a weekly class is an easy way to stay connected and lift your spirits.

Yoga near Palmerston NT, and online

Classes in Palmerston itself are paused for now (we used to teach at the Gray Community Hall). Our nearest studio is at Coolalinga Central, Shop T31, 425 Stuart Highway, opposite Coles, about 10 minutes’ drive up the highway from Palmerston. It runs seven Beginner 1 classes a week, one every day, with evening classes on Mondays and Wednesdays and the rest in the morning. Times and details are on our Yoga Coolalinga page, and the full picture for Palmerston people is on our Palmerston yoga page.

From Gray, Driver, Rosebery, Bakewell, Durack or Zuccoli it is a short drive. Would you rather stay home? Join a live online class instead. Yoga as well as a chiro, or instead: that is up to you.

Play sport? See Yoga For Sport, with pages for golf, running, swimming and footy.

Restorative poses let the lower back rest

How do I start?

2 free classes, plus 2 free ebooks. New to Flametree? Choose 2 free ebooks and get 2 free classes, at Coolalinga, Woolner or live online.

Or just come along, at the studio or online, and your first class is free. That is one free class. Register first and you get two free classes and two free ebooks, plus a few short reminders and tips to help you get started. So registering gets you more, and walking in is always welcome. See class times.

Want more classes? The beginner deal gives you 12 classes for $59.50, studio or online, with a 14-day money-back guarantee.

Chiropractor Palmerston NT and yoga: questions people ask

Is there an alternative to a chiropractor in Palmerston NT?

Many people try yoga as well as a chiro, or instead. Flametree classes in Palmerston are paused, but our Coolalinga studio, about 10 minutes away, runs seven beginner classes a week, and there are live online classes too.

Is yoga or a chiropractor better for lower back pain?

No trial has tested yoga against a chiropractor head to head. A 2017 US doctors’ guideline lists yoga and spinal manipulation side by side for long-term low back pain, and in a trial of 320 adults, 12 yoga classes did as well as 15 physio visits.

Can I see a chiro and do yoga as well?

Yes. Many people do both. Tell your yoga teacher about your back and the poses will be adapted for you.

How much does yoga cost near Palmerston?

Your first class is free if you are new. The beginner deal gives 12 classes for $59.50, at Coolalinga, Woolner or live online.

Do I need to book a class at Coolalinga?

No. Just come along to any of the seven Beginner 1 classes. Mats and props are provided.

Sources

• Qaseem A and colleagues. Noninvasive treatments for acute, subacute, and chronic low back pain: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2017.
• Saper RB and colleagues. Yoga, physical therapy, or education for chronic low back pain: a randomized noninferiority trial. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2017 (320 people).
• Jack K and colleagues. Barriers to treatment adherence in physiotherapy outpatient clinics: a systematic review. Manual Therapy, 2010.
• Beauchamp MR and colleagues. Group-based physical activity for older adults (GOAL) randomized controlled trial: exercise adherence outcomes. Health Psychology, 2018 (627 people).
• Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Layton JB. Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. PLoS Medicine, 2010 (148 studies, 308,849 people).
• Simonik K. How yoga healed my back. Yoga Chicago, November/December 2007.

Flametree Yoga Studio, Coolalinga, Darwin and live online, for Palmerston NT. General information only, not personal health advice.