The Best Exercises to Relieve Menstrual Pain

Introduction

Menstrual pain is unbearable, and taking painkillers is not a good idea. So, these yoga exercises and postures can help relieve menstrual pain, lower back pain, and bloating.

Workouts

Training can be the last thing you think about this month, although it can be the key to regaining the upper hand. In addition to releasing an extra dose of mood-boosting endorphins, the exercises are known to relieve abdominal cramps, bloating, headache and low back pain.

Tanya Becker, co-founder and artistic director of Physique 57 – a gym where we work at the helm (as in classical dance) in New York and Los Angeles – shares the best exercises against menstrual pain.

Toes on the Ground

Katie Dunlop, certified personal trainer and founder of Love Sweat Fitness, practices this movement during her menstruation. First, lie down by leaning your back on your forearms.

Lift the feet 90 degrees; Lower the right leg so your toes touch the ground, return to the original position, and repeat with the left leg.

Continue to make this movement on both sides by contracting the trunk. The result: This exercise mobilizes your abdominals and relieves your cramps.

Did you know that the absence of menstruation does not necessarily mean pregnancy? Here are nine explanations other than pregnancy when you don’t have your period.

Hip Dance

• Kneel, knees wide of the pelvis, and glutes on heels.
• Lift the hips a few inches from your heels, and swing them gently, back and forth.
• Contract the abdominals during the forward projection, and exhale thoroughly.
• Repeat 30 times at a moderate pace.

Do you like challenges? Tanya Becker increases the intensity by raising her arms above her head. The result: “You simultaneously strengthen your abdominals and thigh muscles.

The result is a slight surge of endorphins, which improves your mood, boosts your metabolic rate and burns more calories (not to mention you’ll feel less bloated) if you couldn’t resist eating one last chocolate!” Pro tip: keep the rhythm to the sound of your favourite music!

Gluteal Lifts

• Put your forearms on a piece of sturdy furniture (sofa backrest) or kitchen countertop, and move your feet forward
• enough for your body to form an L.
• Balancing your left leg (slightly folded), stretch the right leg behind you.
• Raise and lower it in a pendulum movement (from the ground to hip height) while contracting your abs.

Do not arch your back by repeating these movements for 60 seconds on each leg. The result: “This exercise strengthens the entire core, which can reduce lower back pain. And the work of the abs in this position relieves bloating.

Scissors

• Lie on your back and lift your legs to the plumb of your hips.
• When contracting your abs, lift your head, neck and shoulders off the ground.
• Gently lower one leg, then start the scissors. You can grasp the leg reaching your chest to stretch and support it
• better.
• Make scissors for 30 seconds on each side.

The effect: “Although contracting the abdominal belt to soothe menstrual cramps may seem incongruous, this movement could relieve them.

Yoga

According to a 2016 study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, women in Taiwan who participated in a short-term yoga exercise intervention noted “less frequent premenstrual physical symptoms, coupled with a lower likelihood of menstrual pain.

In addition, yoga boosts energy, decreases anxiety and improves mood. In addition to these exercises, try these yoga postures that are easy to perform during the day, menstruation or not.

Lying Shoemaker Posture

• Using a bolster or a well-wound blanket flush with the sacrum (triangular bone of the lower back), placed parallel to the spine, lie down gently. You will feel a slight lumbar stretch.
• Inhale and let your knees open, the soles of your feet touch each other in a diamond, and the groin relaxes.
• Support the knees, if necessary, with blocks or cushions on the outside thighs and knees.
• Palms turned to the sky, moving the arms away from your body in a comfortable position.
• Stand still for three to five minutes, inhaling and exhaling deeply in a concentrated manner.

The result: “This position relaxes the lower back and opens the hips, often painful during menstruation. It stretches the abdomen to relieve cramps and reduce stress and anxiety.”

Sitting clamp posture

• Start in a sitting position. Legs stretched out. (If these are stiff, place yoga blocks under your knees, or sit on a blanket or cushion.)
• As you exhale, slowly bend forward from the hips. Keep your ischions anchored and your spine stretched, gently leaning towards your legs.
• When you exhale, retract the stomach to massage the lower abdomen.
• Hold, breathing deeply, one to three minutes, bending towards your legs.

Sitting Twist

• Start sitting on the floor with your legs stretched out.
• Bend the right knee, and place the right foot on the other side of the left knee on the floor.
• Sit right, then inhale, stretching your left arm to the sky.
• Then rotate the spine towards the bent leg without your hips leaving the ground.
• Practice conscious breathing: work the spine with each deep breath, twisting the belly, lower ribs, heart, shoulders, neck, head and eyes.
• Repeat this movement for seven to ten breaths.
• Repeat on the other side.

The result: “Twisting relieves the abdomen by producing a good massage, and fully relaxes the back, which often tenses at this time of the month, in response to physical discomfort.