Yoga Effective At Relieving Low Back Pain, Review Shows

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By Natalie San Luis

The poses, breathing and meditation in a yoga class may do more than help you relax and feel centered. A review of evidence shows that it might relieve low Back Pain as well.

Researchers recently looked at past trials that tested how well yoga stacked up against other treatments for chronic low back pain.

The majority of the studies in this review reported significant improvements in the patients' ability and pain levels.

In some of the trials, yoga was more effective than standard medical care and led to reduced use of pain medications.

The authors of this review suggested yoga as a viable treatment option for some patients experiencing pain in their lower backs.

William Hanney, PT, DPT, PhD, of the Program in Physical Therapy at the University of Central Florida, and colleagues conducted the review to see if yoga could help patients with lower back pain.

According to these researchers, 84 percent of people experience pain in their lower back at some point in their lifetime. For some, this pain can last for months or years and can significantly affect a patient's quality of life.

Yoga, which is a form of exercise that focuses on postures, breathing and meditation, has been studied as a possible treatment for patients with chronic low back pain.

This review looked at 10 studies involving patients who had experienced low back pain for at least 12 weeks. Each of the studies identified yoga as a primary treatment focus.

Some of the studies compared yoga treatment to other forms of physical activity, education and other forms of medical care.

These studies also tested different types of yoga, some of which emphasized holding poses, repeating poses and correcting muscular imbalances. The researchers took note of the patients' pain levels and levels of disability.

Dr. Hanney and colleagues found that yoga was a superior treatment for chronic low back pain compared to physical exercises, use of a self-care book and standard medical care, which often involves pain medication.

In three studies that compared yoga to stretching techniques, no treatment and usual care with advice, there was no statistical difference in lower back pain.

Several of the studies suggested that yoga reduced disability, improved quality of life and reduced the amount of pain medication that the patients used.

Several different types of yoga, like hatha, Iyengar and integrated yoga, were tested, but each of them focused on asanas, or body positions.

Additionally, the treatment lengths varied greatly. The length of each class, the number of classes taken and the frequency of classes were different in each of the studies.

The authors of this review noted that the inconsistencies in the studies prevented an accurate summary of the best yoga treatment plan for low back pain. They concluded, however, that most of the studies still led to significant health improvements.

These authors suggested that health care practitioners should consider yoga as a viable option for treating patients with low back pain.

This review was published in the November/December edition of the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine ^[4] .

The authors of the review did not disclose funding information or conflicts of interest.

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Doctors

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/01/mindfulness-meditation-doctors_n_1456870.html" target="_hplink">Mindfulness meditation</a> could help doctors provide better care to their patients, University of Rochester Medical Center researchers found.

When doctors underwent mindfulness meditation training, they <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/01/mindfulness-meditation-doctors_n_1456870.html" target="_hplink">listened better</a> and were less judgmental at home and at work, according to the Academic Medicine study.

People With Rheumatoid Arthritis

Practicing mindfulness meditation exercises could help people with the painful condition to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/28/mindfulness-meditation-rheumatoid-arthritis_n_1171685.html?1325055022&ref=health-news" target="_hplink">decrease their stress</a> and fatigue levels, according to a study from Oslo's Diakonhjemmet Hospital.

In that study, published in the journal Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/28/mindfulness-meditation-rheumatoid-arthritis_n_1171685.html?1325055022&ref=health-news" target="_hplink">goal of the mindfulness meditation</a> exercises was to help people concentrate on their own thoughts, experiences and pain in the moment, without actively trying to avoid them or judge them. The researchers found that people who did the exercises had lower stress and fatigue measurements than people who didn't partake in the meditation.

The Elderly

Practicing mindfulness meditation could help decrease feelings of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/29/mindfulness-meditation-loneliness-elderly_n_1702112.html" target="_hplink">loneliness in the elderly</a>. The small study, published in the journal Brain, Behavior & Immunity, showed that undergoing an eight-week mindfulness meditation training program, as well as doing meditation exercises at home, was linked with lower feelings of loneliness and a reduction in the expression of genes known to be linked with inflammation.

This finding is important because, among the elderly, loneliness is known to increase the risk for a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/29/mindfulness-meditation-loneliness-elderly_n_1702112.html" target="_hplink">number of other health problems</a> -- including heart risks and even a premature death.

Stroke Survivors

Practicing yoga for eight weeks helped stroke survivors to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/31/yoga-stroke-balance-survivors-patients-_n_1724580.html" target="_hplink">improve their balance</a> in a study published in the journal Stroke.

Improving balance among stroke patients is important for reducing the risk of falls. People who had balance problems, or feelings of dizziness and/or spinning, were five times more likely to fall than those without balance issues, according to an earlier 2003 study in Stroke.

And in other research, presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine this year and conducted by the same researchers as the balance study, they found that yoga helped stroke survivors to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/03/yoga-stroke-rehabilitation_n_1563208.html" target="_hplink">be more flexible</a>, be stronger, and have more endurance and strength.

Caregivers

It's not just people with an ailment who can benefit from yoga -- people caring for the sick can be helped, too. A study in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry found that caregivers who participate in meditation have <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/yoga-caregivers-meditation-kirtan-kriya_n_1342389.html" target="_hplink">decreased symptoms of depression</a> and even a decrease in cellular aging from stress.

Inmates

The Washoe County Sheriff's Office in Reno, Nevada, is offering <a href="http://www.foxreno.com/news/news/local/yoga-classes-offered-jail-women-prisoners/nP6kq/" target="_hplink">yoga to female prisoners</a> to help them with anger and stress issues, Fox Reno reported.

The twice-a-month classes are taught by volunteers, and are part of the Alternatives to Incarceration Unit's Women's Empowerment Program, according to Fox Reno.

Teachers

Meditation could be the key to <a href="http://www.everydayhealth.com/emotional-health/0329/an-om-a-day-keeps-teachers-stress-away.aspx?xid=tw_everydayhealth_hootsuite" target="_hplink">minimizing stress for busy teachers</a>, according to a study from researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.

The findings, published in the journal Emotion, showed that undergoing eight weeks of meditation helped to lower anxiety and depression, also, in the teachers, Everyday Health reported.