ShareThisYoga can help improve the symptoms of lower back pain, but it does no better than regular stretching exercises, researchers in Seattle found.
A study of 228 adults with moderate low-back pain conducted by researchers at the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle found "no differences in functional improvement" between yoga and plain stretching exercises. The findings were reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine Oct. 24.
At no point in the 26-week study period did those participants who were practicing yoga report more pain relief than the participants who did conventional stretching exercises. Both those who took weekly yoga or stretching classes reported more relief than a third group that was given a self-care book to read.
"We expected back pain to ease more with yoga than with stretching, so our findings surprised us," Karen Sherman, the lead researcher, said in a statement.
Dr. Betsy Blazek-O'Neill, head of the integrated medicine program at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, and a self-described "big proponent of yoga," said she wasn't surprised by the study's findings.
"When I recommend yoga to people, it's usually for the stretching benefits," she said. "If they also get benefits from relaxation, that's great."
For Blazek-O'Neill, the most important takeaway from the study is that "people with back pain can do yoga."
But sufferers from low-back pain should proceed with caution, she said. "There are yoga instructors who might push people with back pain too hard."
"Start with an easy, introductory yoga class, and look for an instructor who is sensitive to your individual needs and is willing to modify the program to meet them," Blazek-O'Neill said.
(Email Jack Kelly at jkelly(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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