Low Back Pain? Try Yoga

Chronic low back pain is frustrating for patients and healthcare professionals because nothing - except time - seems to work. Of course, that’s assuming there isn’t a serious pathological cause that can be corrected by interventions such as surgery. Exercise, pain-killers, heat/cold, various types of massage, acupuncture, even bed-rest – all have successes, but more often failures. Popular wisdom presently advocates early mobilization, walking as much as possible, and judicious use of pain-killers, until the condition cures itself.

The Archives of Internal Medicine recently reported on a comparison of yoga, conventional therapeutic exercises, or a self-care book in the treatment of chronic low back pain. They measured back-related function and ‘bothersomeness’ of the condition, using appropriate scales. After 12 weeks’ treatment, back function was better in the yoga group than in the other two groups; there was no significant difference between the groups with regard to bothersomeness, though.

After 26 weeks, however, both back-related function and bothersomeness were significantly improved in the yoga group over the self-care book group, showing that the effects of yoga persisted for some months; improvements with yoga over therapeutic exercises were not significant.

The authors of the study think yoga may work because of its effect on mental focus as well as because it involves exercise. Anyway, it may be worth a try. It’s important to find an instructor who has experience in working with back-pain patients who can help manage any flair-ups that may occur because of the exercises involved.