Oswestry Questionnaire

U.S. researchers are studying people's chronic lower back has found that those who were better Iyengar Yoga to overcome pain and depression than those who followed the conventional treatments for lower back pain.

The study was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health totaling $ 400,000, was the work of Dr. Kimberly Williams, assistant professor of research at the Department of Community Medicine at West Virginia University in Morgantown, and colleagues, and can be read online in the September 1 issue of the journal Spine.

Back pain is the most important category for medical reimbursement in the United States, 34 billion dollars in medical expenses each year, researchers say.

The three-year study showed that the group had raised the yoga mood, less pain and improved function compared with the control group who received standard medical treatment.

Proponents of yoga have often described how she helps back pain, but not everyone was convinced, Williams and colleagues conducted this research, which they believe is the most rigorous and never did.

Williams told the media that:

"The yoga group had less pain, less functional disability and less depression compared with the control group."

"They were statistically significant and clinically important changes that have been held six months after surgery, she said.

For the study, Williams and his colleagues recruited 90 people who had a functional impairment of mild to moderate pain due to chronic lower back.

Participants were randomly assigned to receive instruction in yoga or conventional, or medical treatment.

The yoga group was taught by instructors certified Iyengar yoga for 90 minutes twice a week for 24 weeks. In class, they do postures of chronic back pain targeted low.

Researchers continued to follow participants for six months after the end of yoga or medical treatment.

The researchers took measurements of the results using the Oswestry Disability Questionnaire, a visual analogue scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and analgesic-use half way through the questionnaire phase of treatment (12 weeks), immediately after (24 weeks) and at week 48 (six months after treatment ended).

The results show that:

• At the end of the treatment phase (24 weeks), significantly greater reductions in functional disability and pain intensity were observed in the yoga group compared with the control group (using the intention to treat analysis of repeated measures ANOVA for group x time).
• A significantly higher percentage of members of the yoga group also reported improvements in clinical midterm and end of treament (12 and 24 weeks).
• The yoga group also showed improved scores signficiantly depression.
• Both groups were reduced by about drugs about the same amount.
• The analysis results on the basis of a therapy treatment showed that all outcomes improved in the yoga group, including a greater tendency to reduce the use of drugs against pain.
• Although improvements have been a little better in step 24 a week, at the end of six months follow-up yoga group showed a statistically significant functional disability, pain intensity and depression compared to the group that received standard medical care.

Williams and his colleagues concluded that:

"Yoga improves functional disability, intensity of pain and depression in adults with CLBP [pain] chronic lower back."

"There was also a tendency for the clinically important group of yoga to reduce their usa drugs against pain.