Mark
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 Posted: 12/20/05 - 11:57 Post subject: Gentle yoga may soothe chronic back pain |
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Their study of 101 adults with persistent low back pain found that a gentle yoga class seemed to be a better alternative to either general exercise or a self-help book. The emphases are on gentle exercises, as vigorous styles may pose risk of making chronic back pain even worse.
There have been no published studies on the effects of yoga on chronic back pain in the Western medical literature so far. It is still not known why yoga shows benefits for these people. Some experts feel because of its impacts on both body and mind.
Randomly assigned 101 adults took part in the study. They went in for either 12 weeks of yoga class or 12 weeks of a standard therapeutic exercise class, or followed the advice of a self-care book. After the study had finished, yoga practitioners reported better back function than their peers in either of the other two groups and were using less than half the amount of pain medication their peers were. However, after another three months, those in the exercise group had improved to a similar degree as the yoga practicioners.
It is still not known what is better for low back pain, yoga or standard exercises, but yoga seems to give positive results much sooner.
However, not all back pain patients will necessarily respond well to yoga. For those who have back pain involving muscles, soft tissue and nerves, therapeutic yoga could be worth a try. |
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