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Study Finds Yoga Works As Well As Physical Therapy For Back Pain (time.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the downward-dog dept.

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.

18 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. same difference by networkzombie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't yoga physical therapy? Except for the therapist / yoga guru, they seem the same.

    1. Re:same difference by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Interesting

      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.

    2. Re:same difference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And likewise you can get many physical therapy exercises for free online too. But often a bit of personalization to your problem and feedback on your form can go a long way to making sure you learn the right way of doing things and lower risk of injuring yourself in the long run. In that case, physical therapy is free for many insurance programs while yoga is not.

    3. Re:same difference by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The difference between physical therapy and yoga is not the exercises. It's that a physical therapist with some kind of medical qualification evaluates your needs and makes recommendations. For many people those recommendations will just be "do yoga", but if the pain is the result of an injury it might be useful to know what exercises are safe and won't make it worse.

      Obviously up to you if you think paying for that advice is worth it. I've found that just experimenting carefully by myself had better results.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:same difference by Dixie_Flatline · · Score: 2

      I've had a persistent IT band problem for about 15 years from doing a lot of cycling and not noticing that my saddle was slightly askew for a while. To this day, if my bike is set up incorrectly, I'll end up with a pain so intense that I absolutely can't move my leg while I'm on the bike, and it will even make walking difficult later.

      I went to physio for it. There were stretches and TENS therapy and massage with an obnoxious piece of metal (it was shaped like a large butterknife and was used to break down scar tissue in the area where my IT band was grinding against some bone). After 8 weeks of that, I was 'cured' and sent on my way. It DID feel better, but I'd still have trouble on long rides.

      I went to a training camp, and there was a yoga class for cyclists included in the package. I'd been riding in low to moderate pain for the beginning of the camp, but literally just one yoga session solved my problem. I rode for the rest of that camp without any issues, and I still use the stretches that I learned.

      I'm not providing this anecdote to denigrate physiotherapists, but I don't think they put enough stock in solutions like yoga. It was never brought up, and the stretches I was given to do weren't even close to as effective as the ones I picked up in that class. It could be that the physio I did was required to see the gains that I eventually saw later down the road, but I'm honestly very doubtful.

      I believe strongly in Western medicine and the scientific process, but the reality is that a lot of doctors consider everything not done in a clinical setting a complete waste of your time and won't even suggest dropping into a yoga class to see how that goes at first.

    5. Re:same difference by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 2

      In Germany many (most?) Yoga teachers are actually Physio Therapists.
      That way their students can get the course costs partly or fully refunded by the health insurance.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    6. Re:same difference by LunaticTippy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      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!
  2. What's the difference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Use whatever works best. I once got a printout of lower back exercises from my doctor and it worked better than anything else. No yoga, no PT, just follow the instructions and I felt much better. You have to do it consistently, so that may be why some people find yoga better than PT.

  3. Not surprised at all by moronikos · · Score: 4, Informative

    Since when I went to Kaiser Permanente 20 years ago for back pain, they gave me a bunch of exercises with my physical therapy. A few years ago I was reading a book about yoga and all the exercises they gave me were yoga moves. So, basically the physical therapy is yoga.

  4. No shit. by Qbertino · · Score: 4, Informative

    This sounds like something straight from the mouth of Captain Obvious.

    Truth be told, Yoga is about as "full body workout" as it gets.

    If you think Yoga is just some spiritual foo-foo wah-wah shit and all the health benefits are placebo, you are soooo wrong. Yes, the fortune-cookie wisdoms Yoga instructors dish out at the end of a workout when everybody is chilling and meditating can be flat-out cringe-worthy and inscence and sitar music (or whatever that string-instrument is called) isn't everybody's thing, but the 90 minutes that went before that are enough to put any regular iron-pumper or cross-fit person into gasp and sweat mode. Taking the positions slowly and elegantly ("Ansanas" in Yogaspeak) and holding them is really hard and requires a lot of strength and coordination and at times goes beyond pro level gymnastics.

    Oh, and the countless chicks that do it are often pretty hot. And I mean that in more ways than one. :-) ... Which reminds me that I actually just had an excessive flirt (and some very nice dances) with a cute Yoga instructor this weekend ...

    So, yes, there are a lot of benefits to doing Yoga, including those of regular physical health, strength and flexibility at the same time. That Yoga is about as good as it gets when treating muscular deficiencies in your back is something well established.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  5. Re:Why Yoga won't be more widely used by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 4, Informative

    > Some dumb Christians have tried to convince people that yoga is evil.

    FTFY.

    /sarcasm Because eating Italian food makes one Italian, and practicing stretching makes one Hindu, and ... oh WAIT, no one has a monopoly on stretching.

    Some dumb Christians also believe that "Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him," (1 Cor 11:14). Apparently these retards haver never seen a male horse with a long mane, nor a male lion.

    The only ones saying Yoga is "evil" are idiots.

  6. Good if customized to the patient by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    "The once-a-week yoga classes in the study were designed specifically for back-pain patients"

    I'm compelled to stress the importance of this and of not doing exercises that lastingly increase pain. Many people with back pain who go to normal yoga classes end up being sore from pain instead of muscle soreness after since the programs are typically not customized to their needs/abilities.

  7. Re: and yet... by cyber-vandal · · Score: 2

    Or you could injure yourself further

  8. I have a suggestion by slashmydots · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

  9. Interesting by williamreview1 · · Score: 2

    Just in time when I and my wife wanted to do some yoga for our better health http://williamreview.com/im-vi...

    --
    http://williamreview.com/
  10. The conclusions seem fine, but the discussion not by TimothyHollins · · Score: 2

    All of this sounds about right.

    In fact, if you take a hindu to a physical therapy program and ask him what he just did, he'll say 'yoga'. If you take a physiotherapist to a yoga session and ask her what she just did, she'll say 'physical therapy' (assuming you avoid the weird stoner-stuff about energy and one-with-the-universe cringe that comes after). I've been doing physical therapy for quite a while now (back problems), and I can't see any difference between physical therapy, stretching, and yoga. They all revolve around moderate exertion of muscle groups that we don't normally exercise in our day-to-day lives.

    Of course, there is also the usual virtue signalling bullshit included here.

    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.

    I would like to see the study that concludes that my life is 'more' fine with backpain than anyone else's. Is it less important to be able to play with your kids if you aren't the appropriate minority? Do you not benefit from long walks if you are rich? Are active hobbies only relevant if they prevent you from a life of crime?

    If there isn't a study on this, then these researchers are regurgitating intellectually dishonest narratives (something which is usually consigned to the social "sciences"). I really hope this isn't part of a trend, since internal medicine is a field that must be harshly structured around logical thought and cold hard data.

  11. Re:The conclusions seem fine, but the discussion n by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you're rich you won't have to stack shelves at walmart with a bad back.

  12. Re:Why Yoga won't be more widely used by HiThere · · Score: 2

    That gets tricky. Sometimes those chants are definitely religious, other times it would be more proper to call them philosophical. (In both cases indoctrination is fair.) But how do you rate them when the chants are in a foreign language (unintelligible to the chanter) and aren't translated?

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.