Back pain can be challenging to manage, and often, it’s especially difficult to get to a yoga studio to breathe and stretch, two of the elements of yoga that are beneficial to most types of back pain. Yoga can not only help relieve chronic lower back pain, but online yoga classes are also beneficial.
Study: Online Yoga Classes To Ease Lower Back Pain
Physical therapy or yoga is an effective way to treat lower back pain before moving on to painkillers, but attending yoga classes in person is sometimes challenging.
A recent randomized clinical trial published at JAMA Network established that there was a sixfold reduction in pain for people taking virtual yoga classes compared with the control group not assigned to the online sessions.
The improvement in back-related function for those taking yoga classes online was also almost tripled.
For the study,yoga instructors provided a program designed to treat people with lower back pain specifically crafted for virtual delivery.
The participants were all members of Cleveland Clinic’s Employee Health Plan from northeast Ohio and Florida of whom 140 members with chronic low back pain were randomly selected to participate in either a virtual live-streamed yoga class for 12 weeks or to continue with their usual medical care.
Online Yoga Classes To Relieve Lower Back Pain
After the 12 weeks allocated to the study had lapsed, improvement in pain and function was reported by the yoga group. 34% fewer patients reported using pain medication and a 10 times greater improvement in sleep quality was also noted.
The yoga students found that at 24 weeks, the improvement in pain and back-related function remained.
More resources for yoga for back pain is also available from the Harvard Medical School and Hallie Tankha, a member of Cleveland Clinic’s research faculty in wellness and preventive medicine led the research and indicated while traditional treatments often fall short when managing back pain, yoga should be part of the approach.
Tankha said, “We must work to increase access to this safe and effective treatment.”
In a press release, Dr. Robert Saper of Cleveland Clinic indicated that the new research confirms that for the treatment of chronic low back pain, a virtual yoga class program can be an effective and safe therapeutic option.
Check out our free online yoga classes here.
Katy has been teaching yoga and meditation since 2010, Katy is also a certified life coach.
