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Online yoga has been shown to clinically reduce lower back pain
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Online yoga has been shown to clinically reduce lower back pain

November 12, 2024 – With your doctor’s recommendation, explore yoga as a remedy for the weak back pain is now easier than ever – giving you the chance to see if its gentle stretches and movements can provide relief.

Yoga is a common recommendation for lower back pain, but not everyone has a yoga studio nearby, and sometimes classes are expensive or only offered on a limited schedule. But now, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic have shown that following a course of 12 weekly virtual sessions can significantly reduce lower back pain.

The results were published in the journal Open JAMA Network this month, and people in the study also reported improvement sleep and less use of pain medication.

The study is particularly notable because it was a randomized study clinical trialmeaning that the people enrolled all had similar lower back pain, but not all participated in virtual yoga sessions during the study. period. (But when recruiting for the study, all were told they would do yoga. Those assigned to the non-yoga group participated in assessments during the study period but were only offered yoga sessions until after the study ended.) The two groups were called by the researchers the “yoga now” group and the “yoga later” group. The later yoga group was discouraged from starting a new yoga practice during the assessment period.

The study involved 140 people whose average age was 48 years. Most were women. Their back pain and physical Impairments were considered moderate at baseline based on a number of assessments, including rating statements such as “I change positions frequently to try to make my back comfortable” and “Because of my back, I try not to bend or kneel.”

The Yoga Now group received a handout with tips on what to wear, how to plan daily practice time, and information on different positions and movements. They had 12 weekly virtual sessions with trained instructors that lasted 60 minutes, and they were encouraged to practice 30 minutes per day outside of the weekly instructor-led sessions using a provided yoga mat and pre-recorded sessions corresponding to what was taught each week. The sessions included about 15 yoga poses, and the classes got progressively more difficult as the weeks went by.

At both six and 12 weeks, pain intensity had significantly decreased and back-related function improved in the yoga now group, compared to the yoga later group. After 12 weeks of practicing yoga, people in the yoga now group reported a decrease in pain intensity that was six times greater than the changes experienced by people in the yoga later group. Improvements in back-related functions were nearly three times greater.

Changes in pain intensity, back function, sleep and pain reduction medicine use was sustained after 24 weeks.

Lower back pain is very common. It is estimated to affect up to 20% of people, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

“Yoga offers a comprehensive approach to managing lower back pain, a condition for which traditional treatments often fail,” said researcher Hallie Tankha, PhD, of the Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Wellness and Preventive Medicine, in a press release. press release. “Now we must work to increase access to this safe and effective treatment. »