A new study concerning adults suffering from lower back problems found out that a 12-week yoga class may lead to a small improvement in how well people could perform daily activities, but it does not mean that it could ease the pain that they are undergoing with chronic lower back pain.
The report follows another new study from Washington State, which found modest and similar gains from yoga and stretching classes in people with chronic back pain.
According to Dr. Timothy Carey, from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, the new research gives them more confidence that the benefits that can be seen with such class-based intervention appear to apply when it is done in unusual areas by different teachers.
David Torgerson from the University of York led The UK study. The research got the cooperation of 313 adults who had chronic back pain for an average of 10 years. They got arbitrarily splitted into two groups – the first group went to yoga classes once a week for 12 weeks, while the other group only given a back pain information booklet.
The yoga classes teach breathing and relaxation techniques as well as poses in improving strength and mobility. People, who belong to that group also given with mats and got persuaded to practice a couple of times a week at home.
Before and after the 12-week program, the participants answered questionnaires regarding the trouble they had with daily tasks, their pain and general health.
Usual “disability” levels started out at 8 on a scale of 0 to 24 in both groups, with 24 that represents the most difficulty with everyday activities. By the time that the yoga classes end, those scores had dropped over 2 points, to between 5.5 and 6 among yoga participants. However, no change can be seen in the non-yoga group.
Carey claims that a 2-point difference is noticeable for a patient. However, exercise is not a cure. The improved functioning stayed for the nine months that the researchers followed the health conditions of the participants after the trial ended.
However, nothing found that could treat back pain, based on the educational booklet that the participants got, compared to people given with an educational booklet. Both groups showed improvement by an average of 1 to 4 points on a 100-point pain scale.
Researchers have speculated about how does yoga help in easing the pain of chronic back pain as it rarely causes serious side effects and can be done relatively cheaply in group classes — or individually for no money at all, once the techniques got thought.