It’s no surprise that yoga is beneficial to our health.  For years now we have been hearing about how good it is for us in a number of ways, such as keeping our body’s limber, helping reduce stress, and now helping reduce chronic back pain.

To a lot of people with lower back pain, yoga may seem like a bad idea. After all, often it’s physical activity that will set off the pain in one’s lower back.  But most doctors do recommend that those with back pain keep active and keep moving as this will help reduce the pain.  And yoga may be one of the better activities for it.

The type of lower back pain that was being investigated in this study is what is commonly referred to as “non-specific” lower back pain.  This is a definition used to describe lower back pain that is painful, if there is tension in the back, or any stiffness, though the cause of these symptoms is unclear.  This type of back pain is not associated with any other ailments such as fractures, infections, inflammation, spinal cord compression or cancer.

The trial, which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Internal Medicine, was carried out by both the Universities of Manchester and York, as well as yoga clinics in the York and Cornwall area.  It was funded by Arthritis Research UK.  The trial involved 313 participants who were sent questionnaires from 39 different medical practices in the area.

The trial was made up of both men and women who had reported lower back pain to their medical practitioners in the past 18 months, though women made up two-thirds of the trial group and men only one-third.The average age of the participants was 46 years of age.  The questionnaire that they were asked to fill out had questions that helped researchers gage their level of disability, and the questionnaire was then sent out again at the three, six and twelve month mark.

Each of the participants was randomly assigned having either the yoga intervention (156 participants) or usual care (157 participants).  Those who were offered the yoga intervention took a 12-session, 3 month long progressive class that was delivered by experienced yoga teachers.  The participants from both groups were offered an educational booklet on how to take care of their lower back.

The trial had the typical drop out rate, but enough of the participants stuck around until the 12 month mark (87%) to allow researchers to draw some conclusions from the study.

60% of the yoga group had attended a minimum of three of the first six yoga sessions, as well as a minimum of three other sessions during the course of the 12 week program.  From the questionnaires that were filled out, the yoga participants all reported a higher improvement in their lower back function than those who had usual care.

So does this mean that yoga is the answer to curing chronic back pain?  Not necessarily.  Other physical activities were not explored as being a better option for helping cure lower back pain.  The participants were also not blinded, leaving room for a participant to have a bias towards yoga.  But one thing that this study certainly provides is hope that alternative methods can potentially be used to treat this common and oftentimes debilitating condition.