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Yoga Relieves Lower Back Pain

November 5, 2009 6:38 pm 6 comments

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We already know what doesn't work for lower back pain. Here's something that does: yoga. Hey, the price is right! The Los Angeles Times reports on research conducted at Boston University's medical school, where investigators divided 30 people–average age 44– into two groups, one that did
hatha yoga, taking classes that included poses and
breathing techniques, and one that continued their usual treatment– seeing
their doctor and taking medication. The paper reports that after 12 weeks, those in the yoga group had far lower pain
scores than the control — their pain decreased by a third,
compared with 5 perceYoga9 nt in the control group. The yoga group also decreased
their use of pain medication by 80 percent, while the control group's
medication didn't change. At the end of the study, 73 percent of the yoga
group said they had overall improvement in back pain, compared with 27 percent
of the control group.

Read more in the Los Angeles Times.

6 Comments

  • harry@peakhealthgroup.net
    November 6, 2009
    10:26 am

    Try grabbing a horizontal bar and hanging down. You can keep your feet on the ground to minimize the weight supported by your shoulders. I don’t know if it’s ever been studied but it works for me.

    Reply
  • sfauthor
    November 8, 2009
    10:56 pm

    Nice posting. Do you know about these yoga books?
    http://www.yogavidya.com/freepdfs.html

    Reply
  • r4i
    November 10, 2009
    4:33 am

    Hi,
    Yoga is beneficial for the health in ways that modern science is just beginning to understand. Even though it has beenapplied with therapeutic intention for thousand of years, Yoga Therapy is only just now emerging as a discipline initself.
    More health care practitioners are starting to include yogic techniques in their approach to healing — andmore yoga teachers give a therapeutic intention to their teaching. People who have never tried yoga before are startingto consider including Yoga in their treatment plan.
    As science begins to document the importance of understanding the interrelation of all existing things, it looks to Yogawith an intrigued eye, for Yoga speaks Unity in every word. As yoga techniques are researched and new data is gathered,it becomes easier for science and the medical establishment to understand and accept the benefits of Yoga Therapy.Yet there is still not one consensual definition of the discipline.
    In order to arrive to an adequate definition and tocome up with proper standards for Yoga Therapy, it is crucial at this early stage to properly address some delicateprofessional and ethical issues. At the same time it is important to educatethegeneralpublic about Yoga Therapy’sbenefits and careful use.
    so this article will really helpful to me..

    Reply
  • sbrand1@bellsouth.net
    January 3, 2010
    9:03 am

    Yoga exacerbated my lower back problems and continues to set me back.

    Reply
  • Chris
    January 8, 2010
    2:19 am

    Yoga is a very nice and natural way of treatment to your body and it gives a lot of benefits. That’s many stress people and women used yoga as their way of removing stress and even body pains. Thanks nice article!

    Reply
  • elbow injury
    February 10, 2010
    2:52 am

    Yoga helps not only someone’s mind but his energy as well, some people use it when experiencing pain.

    Reply

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