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Study Finds Yoga Works As Well As Physical Therapy For Back Pain (time.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TIME: Another study is touting the benefits of yoga -- this time, for people with back problems. The new research put yoga head-to-head against physical therapy and found the two were equally good at restoring function and reducing the need for pain medication over time. In the new study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, a group of 320 people did 12 weeks of yoga or physical therapy, or they simply received a book and newsletters about coping with back pain. People in the active treatment groups reported that their pain was less intense than it was at the start of the study and that they were able to physically move more. Some were also able to reduce, or even stop, their pain medications. Those improvements stuck around for a full year after the study was over. This research is unique because the people in the study were racially diverse, and most were from low-income families. Many had pre-existing medical conditions. That's important, say the researchers, because chronic back pain -- which affects about 10% of U.S. adults -- has a greater impact on minorities and people of lower socioeconomic status.
Isn't yoga physical therapy? Except for the therapist / yoga guru, they seem the same.
Pretty much. My wife has a back injury and tried both yoga and physical therapy. The yoga was stretching and exercises. The physical therapy was stretching and exercises. The only difference was that PT cost money, while she could learn yoga for free from Youtube videos.
They should take away all the "breathing in energy" bullshit and find out what the movements are doing in hard, physical science and then copy it...wait that would just be physical therapy actually. What a coincidence.
When I had physical therapy I didn't want to go in 3x a week so I asked them if they could show me the techniques and I would do them at home. They were happy to oblige. Many patients are bad at doing the exercises and want the hand holding, but it isn't mandatory. The PT clinic isn't going to promote home care since they don't get paid for it.
Man, you really need that seminar!