Yoga can help low back pain
A new US research says physical yoga practices are as effective as other forms of regular exercise in helping patients suffering from chronic low back pain.
Previous studies had suggested that yoga, which includes stretching exercises along with meditative practices, was moderately effective in treating chronic back pain.
The new US research which is the largest trial on yoga to date says that physical aspects of yoga may improve low back pain but as much as other sorts of exercise. Findings suggest that the mental aspect of the traditional Indian technique is less likely to be effective in chronic backache.
”We expected back pain to ease more with yoga than with stretching, so our findings surprised us,” said senior researcher Karen Sherman.
For the study, funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Center, researchers looked at 228mentally healthy adults with chronic low back pain that didn’t have a specific cause such as a spinal disc problem.
Participants were randomly assigned to three groups. The first group took weekly 75-minute yoga classes while another group was assigned to weekly stretching and strength sessions. The last group which was considered as a control group received a book on coping with back pain.
The yoga and stretching groups in addition to their classes received instructional videos and were encouraged to practice at home for 20 minutes a day between classes.
After three months, "back-related dysfunction declined over time in all groups," but compared to the handbook group both stretching and yoga groups were far more likely to report improvement.
Twice as many participants in yoga and exercise classes compared to the control group said they’d decreased their medication use (40 percent versus 20 percent). The trend persisted three months after the yoga and stretching classes ended.
”The most straightforward interpretation of our findings would be that yoga’s benefits on back function and symptoms were largely physical, due to the stretching and strengthening of muscles,” said Sherman.
”Our results suggest that both yoga and stretching can be good, safe options for people who are willing to try physical activity to relieve their moderate low back pain,” she added. ”But it’s important for the classes to be therapeutically oriented, geared for beginners, and taught by instructors who can modify postures for participants' individual physical limitations.”
Source: presstv.ir
