Yoga helps ease back pain
US research has added credence to the school of thought that says the practise of yoga can help to alleviate back pain.
Between 20 per cent and 25 per cent of medical claims in the US - exceeding $34 billion in medical costs - are related to lower back pain.
Researchers from West Virginia University, funded by the US National Institutes of Health, placed 90 participants with mild to moderate functional disability as a result of back pain into one of two groups.
The first group undertook 90-minute Iyengar yoga sessions twice weekly for six months, while the participants in the second group continued their existing form of medical therapy or treatment.
Through the use of questionnaires which asked about pain levels, medications and difficulty of task performance, a higher proportion of the yoga group reported decreased pain and improvements in functioning at both the three-month and six-month stages.
Study author Kimberly Williams, a research assistant professor in the department of community medicine at West Virginia University, said, 'The yoga group had less pain, less functional disability and less depression, compared with the control group. These were statistically significant and clinically important changes that were maintained six months after the intervention'.
Dr Todd Albert, chairman of the department of orthopaedics at Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, praised the design of the study and said, 'I have found yoga and Pilates are great for chronic low back pain. There is so much concentration on core strengthening, which is critical for people who have been de-conditioned'.
Source: Spine