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Researchers at Cleveland Clinic found that a 12-week therapeutic virtual yoga program for chronic low back pain may be a viable, safe and effective treatment option. The findings were published in JAMA network opened.
Chronic low back pain is very common: up to 20% of adults worldwide have long-term or recurring low back pain. In severe cases, the pain can make it difficult to walk, sleep, work, or perform daily activities.
Clinical guidelines recommend the use of non-pharmacological treatments first, such as physical therapy or personal yoga classes. With this study, researchers investigated whether virtual yoga classes would also be effective in treating chronic low back pain. The findings show that participants who practiced virtual yoga classes reported reduced back pain intensity and improved back-related functioning.
“Attending yoga classes in person can be challenging,” says Robert Saper, MD, MPH, chairman of the Cleveland Clinic’s Division of Wellness and Preventive Medicine, and senior author of the study. “This study shows that a virtual yoga class program can be a safe and effective therapeutic option for the treatment of chronic low back pain.”
Researchers conducted a 24-week randomized clinical trial involving 140 eligible participants with chronic low back pain. The average age of the participants was 48 years and more than 80% were women. The study participants were members of the Cleveland Clinic Employee Health Plan of Northeast Ohio and Florida. The study was conducted from May 2022 to May 2023.
The research team conducted assessments to determine baseline measures, such as pain intensity score and back-related function, using the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire. Participants were then randomly assigned to the ‘yoga now’ group or the ‘yoga later’ control group.
Seventy-one participants took part in the yoga now group, which included twelve weeks of virtual live-streamed yoga group classes, followed by a twelve-week assessment period. Sixty-nine participants were enrolled in the later yoga control group and continued with their usual medical care. After the study was completed, the Yoga Later group was offered non-study yoga classes.
Cleveland Clinic yoga instructors delivered a 12-week program designed to maximize effectiveness and safety, adapted for virtual delivery, and intended for participants with chronic low back pain.
After the baseline measurement, participants were reassessed after six weeks, twelve weeks and twenty-four weeks for the intensity of low back pain, back-related functioning, use of pain medication and sleep quality.
At the end of the 12-week virtual yoga program, Yoga Now participants reported six times greater reductions in pain intensity scores and 2.7 times greater improvements in back-related function compared to participants who did not take the yoga classes.
Additionally, 34% fewer patients in the yoga now group reported taking pain medication, and they reported a 10 times greater improvement in sleep quality compared to the yoga later group. After 24 weeks, improvements in pain and back-related function were maintained.
“Yoga provides a comprehensive approach to managing low back pain, a condition for which traditional treatments often fall short,” said Hallie Tankha, Ph.D., research faculty in the Cleveland Clinic’s Division of Wellness and Preventive Medicine, and first author of the study . “Now we must work to increase access to this safe and effective treatment.”
Dr. Saper plans to continue this important research with a larger and more diverse sample of patients from multiple healthcare systems.
More information:
Effectiveness of virtual yoga for chronic low back pain, JAMA network opened (2024). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.42339
Quote: Research shows that a therapeutic virtual yoga program can be effective for chronic low back pain (2024, November 1), retrieved November 2, 2024 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-11-therapeutic-virtual-yoga-effective -chronic. html
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