Yoga May Help Those with Chronic Pain

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A small study of patients suffering from chronic pain found that just 4 weeks of yoga improved symptoms.

``Yoga may be another way for people to help themselves through life when they live with chronic pain,'' lead investigator Dr. Sonia D. Gaur of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, told Reuters Health in an interview.

However, she added, ``more studies need to be done.''

Gaur presented her preliminary findings at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting in May.

In the study, 18 men and women who had been experiencing persistent pain for more than 3 months attended 90-minute yoga sessions three times a week for 1 month. The study did not include a ``control'' group for comparison.

The type of yoga that was practiced by the volunteers, called Iyenger yoga, combines meditative breathing exercises with different yoga poses, Gaur explained.

The volunteers were asked to complete questionnaires each week, which Gaur and colleagues used to evaluate mood states, pain severity, and the amount of pain medication taken at the start of the study and throughout the 4-week period.

``All 18 of the patients either experienced some kind of improvement or stayed the same,'' Guar said. ``Nobody suffered any deterioration.''

All of the patients ``showed a decrease of significant proportion in pain medication use,'' had improved mood and decreased levels of anxiety, and they were more likely to be able to participate in home and family activities, such as household chores or recreational activities, Guar noted.

``Yoga may be able to help some people who suffer from chronic pain when all other avenues are exhausted,'' she said.