Yoga could finally solve your chronic lower back pain!
| Mar 8, 2018, 09:52 IST
It comes as no surprise that our lifestyles today take a toll on our health. One such would be how you sit at work the whole day if you have a desk job. This severely affects your spine causing you to have back problems, the most common being lower back pain. Well, if you know what we are talking about, you might want to give this a thorough read. We've come across a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine that proves that yoga can help you get rid of that chronic back pain.
The one-year study tracked 320 racially diverse, mostly low-income participants in the Boston area with chronic lower back pain. Participants were divided into three groups: those who took yoga classes, those who attended physical therapy (PT) sessions, and those who received an educational book and newsletters. As the results rolled in, researchers found that yoga for back pain is just as effective as physical therapy. Plus, not only were participants in yoga or PT sessions less likely to use pain meds when compared to the education group, but they also reported similar levels of satisfaction and quality of life. “PT is the most common referral that physicians make for patients with back pain. It’s accepted, it’s reimbursed, and it’s offered in most hospitals,” study author Rob Saper, director of integrative medicine at Boston Medical Center, told an online portal. However, thanks to this research, “maybe yoga should be considered as a potential therapy that can be more widely disseminated and covered (by insurance)," the director continued.
“Any single treatment approach is unlikely to prove helpful to all or even most patients,” said Stefan Kertesz of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine and his co-author, Douglas Chang of University of California, San Diego. Still, they say this new study has shown that “yoga offers some persons tangible benefit without much risk.”
The one-year study tracked 320 racially diverse, mostly low-income participants in the Boston area with chronic lower back pain. Participants were divided into three groups: those who took yoga classes, those who attended physical therapy (PT) sessions, and those who received an educational book and newsletters. As the results rolled in, researchers found that yoga for back pain is just as effective as physical therapy. Plus, not only were participants in yoga or PT sessions less likely to use pain meds when compared to the education group, but they also reported similar levels of satisfaction and quality of life. “PT is the most common referral that physicians make for patients with back pain. It’s accepted, it’s reimbursed, and it’s offered in most hospitals,” study author Rob Saper, director of integrative medicine at Boston Medical Center, told an online portal. However, thanks to this research, “maybe yoga should be considered as a potential therapy that can be more widely disseminated and covered (by insurance)," the director continued.
“Any single treatment approach is unlikely to prove helpful to all or even most patients,” said Stefan Kertesz of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine and his co-author, Douglas Chang of University of California, San Diego. Still, they say this new study has shown that “yoga offers some persons tangible benefit without much risk.”