Yoga Can Ease Lower Back Pain
Those who did it reported less discomfort, depression after six months
By Jennifer Thomas
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Sept. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Practicing yoga can help ease chronic lower back pain, a new study shows.
Researchers divided 90 people, aged 23 to 66, who had mild to moderate functional disability as a result of back pain into two groups.
One group did 90-minute sessions of Iyengar yoga twice a week for six months. The other group continued whatever medical therapy or treatments they'd been doing.
At the three-month and six-month marks, a greater proportion of those who'd done yoga reported improvements in their pain and functioning as measured by questionnaires that asked about pain levels, difficulty performing physical tasks and pain medications being taken. Yoga participants also reported fewer symptoms of depression.
"The yoga group had less pain, less functional disability and less depression, compared with the control group," study author Kimberly Williams, a research assistant professor in the department of community medicine at West Virginia University, said in a statement. "These were statistically significant and clinically important changes that were maintained six months after the intervention."
The study is published in the September issue of Spine.
Iyengar yoga, a form of hatha yoga that's popular in the United States, builds strength, flexibility and balance by taking participants through a series of specific poses.
Dr. Todd J. Albert, chairman of the department of orthopedics at Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals and the Rothman Institute in Philadelphia, said the study, funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, was well-designed.
"I have found yoga and Pilates are great for chronic low back pain," Albert said. "There is so much concentration on core strengthening, which is critical for people who have been de-conditioned."
Lower back pain can cause people to stop exercising because of discomfort or fear of causing further injury to their back. The lack of activity can cause the back muscles to become "de-conditioned," or weakened, setting up conditions for even more chronic pain.
Exercises such as yoga help reverse the muscle weakness by strengthening muscles of the mid-section, including the back extensors, abdominals and gluteus, which are key for stabilizing the trunk and decreasing the load on the spine.
"Strengthening those muscles is like creating a brace around your torso," Albert explained.
Lower back pain represents between 20 percent and 25 percent of medical claims and exceeds $34 billion in annual direct medical costs, according to background information in the study.
Mary Lou Galantino, a professor of physical therapy at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, said the study confirms previous research about the benefits of yoga for helping with conditions as varied as menopause and osteoarthritis. Other research has shown that yoga can improve mood in women with breast cancer.
"There is so much data excitingly pointing to the physical, psychological and spiritual benefits of yoga," Galantino said. "I also believe there's a social aspect to yoga. It can foster a sense of community and overarching well-being."
Though strengthening the back is important, so are the spiritual and psychological aspects of yoga, including meditation and deep breathing, Galantino said.
"In order to have a holistic approach to one's well being, you want to get to the physical, the psychological, the emotional and the spiritual," said Galantino, a yoga instructor. "That is integrated care. If done with proper breathing, postures and meditation, yoga does all of that. You have to have all of the elements. If we westernize it and make it solely an athletic program, then you may not receive all of the benefits."
Though there are many causes of lower back pain, the culprit is often a herniated disc or arthritis. Though people suffering from back pain may worry that exercise could make the pain worse, it's not likely to as long as you don't overdo it, Albert said.
More information
The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more on back pain.
SOURCES: Todd J. Albert, M.D., chairman, department of orthopedics, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals and the Rothman Institute, Philadephia; Mary Lou Galantino, PT, Ph.D., professor, physical therapy, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey; September 2009 Spine
Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Mental Muscle?
While yoga has long been shown to affect mood, one yoga move in particular is getting attention for boosting brainpower. Superbrain Yoga, as the exercise is called, is being practiced across the country as an antidote to brain drain. Go ahead. Try it!
This simple move, shown at right, boosts brain function by stimulating acupressure points on the earlobes, according to Yale-trained neurobiologist Eugenius Ang, Ph.D.
Mental Muscle?
Step 1 Place your left hand on your right earlobe, thumb on the front of the lobe with fingernail facing outward and second finger behind the earlobe. Then, with your right hand, grasp your left earlobe, again keeping your thumb on the front of the lobe, facing outward. Press both earlobes simultaneously, making sure your left arm is close to your chest and inside your right (which devotees say helps energy travel upward to the brain).
Step 2 As you press on the earlobes, squat down, keeping your back straight. Do 10 to 12 deep bends, inhaling through the nose on the way down and exhaling through the mouth coming up. You may place a chair underneath you as a safety precaution.
Step 3 Repeat daily. “It’s like putting more gas in your brain’s tank,” says Ang. To learn more, read Superbrain Yoga by Master Choa Kok Sui. —Janet Kinosian
10 Best Reasons Older Adults Need to Practice Yoga and the Soft Martial Arts by: Karen B. Cohen
Today, millions of older Americans are experiencing a higher quality of life by taking an active and positive approach to their personal wellness. They are enjoying improved health and successful living by becoming self-educated, personally responsible and proactive. The most successful are those who adopt a whole-person wellness model, addressing the needs of the body, mind, and spirit.
Most people know about the research that shows that regular exercise provides a wide range of health benefits and, perhaps most importantly, can preserve function and independence. Fewer realize that their choice of exercise activity can produce another host of unexpected benefits. By choosing mind/body exercises, such as yoga or soft martial arts (like Chi Gung and T’ai Chi), older adults can unleash even greater health and vitality.
Yoga and Chi Gung (as well as all other soft arts) are ideal choices for older adults because they positively affect the whole person: body, intellect, emotions, and spirit. They increase vital energy while strengthening and soothing the body, focusing the mind, and nurturing the spirit.
The ten best reasons older adults need a mind/body practice are:
Body – Caring for the body improves health, preserves your ability to function and preserves independence. Yoga and Chi Gung offer powerful protection from falls – a major threat to older adults!
1. Strengthen Muscles and Bones: Yoga especially builds muscle strength and bone mass. The vital weight-bearing postures of yoga stimulate the bones to retain calcium. In yoga, both the upper and lower body receive the benefits of bearing weight, unlike walking or running.
2. Improved Heart and Respiratory Health: Chi Gung and the soft martial arts have been shown in studies to improve circulation, heart health, and respiratory function. Yoga breathing exercises are very powerful tools to increase respiratory function, breath capacity and physical energy. Both increase vitality and sense of well-being.
3. Increased Flexibility: Yoga and Chi Gung both increase overall flexibility, contributing to improved everyday functioning and mobility, and protection from falls. Despite popular notions, you do not need to be flexible to practice yoga. The idea is to practice at your current level with patience and compassion, gently becoming more pliable.
4. Better Posture: Good posture calls upon our new strength and flexibility to keep our spine healthy and strong. Healthy body posture supports digestive and respiratory functions as well. Poor posture in combination with osteoporosis leads to stress fractures.
5. Improved Balance: Balance gives older adults the confidence to move freely and to engage in physical activities. One of the most important parts of a senior fitness program is balance training. Seniors who exercise and practice balance activities, like those found in yoga and Chi Gung, can avert the devastating effects of a fall – the second leading cause of accidental death for seniors. Balance is an intangible force that many people take for granted.
6. Increased Energy: Yoga and Chi Gung are, in essence, ancient renewal and balancing systems for our vital energy. More than the sum of their parts, these practices gently revitalize the body. The term “Chi” itself means “energy”, and “Chi Gung” literally means “energy work”.
Mind - Challenging the mind is crucial to staving off diseases like Alzheimer’s. Be sure to stimulate your intellectual dimension through learning new information and exploring topics that require judgment and decision-making. The physical aspects of a mind-body practice lead directly to a mental sense of rootedness, stability and balance.
7. Intellectual Stimulation: Learning a mind-body exercise is like learning a new language with its own vocabulary and rules. It takes focused attention. It is a practice…a journey of exploration. Yoga and the soft martial arts also invite us to explore a way of thinking that may be very unfamiliar to us.
8. Emotional Support: The philosophies infusing yoga and Chi Gung encourage us to be mindful of the present moment, to be aware and grateful of all around us, and to let go of our attachments of how we think things should be. This positive outlook leads to a sense of calm and well-being.
Spirit - A new study shows that once people retire, they adopt a new sense of time and their place in the world as their values and beliefs begin to change. Adding a spiritual dimension to your exercise activities offers additional wellness benefits. In addition to yoga and Chi Gung, consider nature walks and ‘mindful’ strength training and meditation in all forms.
9. Connecting with the Big Picture: A mindfulness practice is a direct way to practice connecting with a truth larger than ourselves. Practicing becoming quiet and receptive allows our inner wisdom to be heard. Older adults have indicated a desire to search for “the meaning of life”. Practitioners of yoga and the soft arts create a deep sense of richness and unity in their lives.
10. Inner Exploration: Central to the spiritual dimensions of the older adult is the desire to explore the inner self. Beyond the physical exercises of yoga and Chi Gung, they challenge us to look deeply at ourselves, to “be” with ourselves. We learn to celebrate our strengths and forgive our weaknesses while practicing patience and focused concentration.
Copyright 2005 Karen B.Cohen All Rights Reserved Karen B. Cohen C.L.C. RYT500 is a wellness coach and master yoga instructor, writer and speaker, residing in a college town in rural Virginia. Karen leads people to their own limitless supply of creativity and vitality so that they can express their talent and abilities fully in the world. She incorporates her expertise in mind-body techniques to work with a wide spectrum of clients. Karen provides seminars, workshops as well as individual coaching and training nationally and internationally. For more information go to KarenCohenYoga.blogspot.com and RockbridgeCoaching.blogspot.com.
Editor's info: Mary Desaulniers Ph.D. A retired teacher, Mary founded "Great Body at 50", a website that offers solutions to weight management through mind and body work which includes discovering the creative energy behind the hunger. www.GreatBodyat50.com GreatBodyat50.blogspot.com
Editor's info: Mary Desaulniers Ph.D. A retired teacher, Mary founded "Great Body at 50", a website that offers solutions to weight management through mind and body work which includes discovering the creative energy behind the hunger. www.GreatBodyat50.com GreatBodyat50.blogspot.com
