Nov. 12, 2024 – With your doctor’s recommendation, exploring yoga as a remedy for low back pain is now easier than ever – giving you the chance to see if its gentle stretches and movements can provide relief.
Yoga is a common recommendation for low back pain, but not everyone has a yoga studio nearby, and sometimes the classes are expensive or only offered on a limited schedule. But now, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic have shown that following a course of 12 weekly virtual sessions can significantly reduce low back pain.
The findings were published in the journal JAMA Network Open this month, and people in the study also reported improved sleep and less use of pain medications.
The study is particularly noteworthy because it was a randomized clinical trial, meaning people who signed up all had similar low back pain conditions but didn’t all take part in virtual yoga sessions during the study period. (But during recruitment for the study, all were advised that they would do yoga. The people assigned to the non-yoga group took part in evaluations during the study period but were only offered yoga sessions after the study ended.) The two groups were referred to by researchers as the “yoga now” group and the “yoga later” group. The yoga later group was discouraged from starting a new yoga practice during the evaluations-only period.
The study included 140 people whose average age was 48 years old. Most were women. Their back pain and physical impairment were considered moderate at the start based on a number of evaluations, including rating statements like “I change position frequently to try and get my back comfortable,” and “because of my back, I try not to bend or kneel down.”
The yoga now group received a handout that included tips on what to wear, how to plan time for daily practice, and information about the different positions and movements. They had 12 weekly virtual sessions with trained instructors that lasted 60 minutes, and they were encouraged to practice for 30 minutes daily outside of the weekly instructor-led sessions using a provided yoga mat and prerecorded sessions that aligned with what was taught each week. The sessions included about 15 yoga poses, and the classes got harder as the weeks progressed.
At both the six-week and 12-week marks, pain intensity had significantly decreased and back-related function improved among the yoga now group, compared to the yoga later group. After 12 weeks of yoga practice, people in the yoga now group reported decreases in pain intensity that were six times larger than changes experienced by people in the yoga later group. Improvements in back-related function were nearly three times greater.
Changes in pain intensity, back functioning, sleep, and reduced pain medication usage were all sustained at the 24-week mark.
Low back pain is very common. It’s estimated to affect as many as 20% of people, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
“Yoga offers a comprehensive approach to managing low back pain, a condition for which traditional treatments often fall short,” researcher Hallie Tankha, PhD, of the Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Wellness and Preventive Medicine, said in a news release. “Now we must work to increase access to this safe and effective treatment.”
