According to the yoga practitioners, improvements were still visible 9 months later.
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Arthritis, a painful inflammation and stiffening of the joints, is a leading cause of disability, affecting one in five adults, most younger than 65.
While physical activity is considered the most efficient way of easing its symptoms, arthritis has no cure.
Researchers based their data on 75 sedentary adults with symptoms of knee osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis. The yoga group went to two weekly yoga classes, and were asked to do one home session of yoga per week. The researchers examined the participants’ physical and mental health without knowledge of which participant belonged in which group.
In the trial, people with arthritis who practiced yoga for eight weeks had about a 20 percent improvement in physical health with similar improvements in pain, energy, mood and carrying out day-to-day activities and tasks. They were also able to walk faster than the waiting list group, though upper body strength and balance showed no change between them.
“There’s a real surge of interest in yoga as a complementary therapy, with one in 10 people in the United States now practicing yoga to improve their health and fitness”, said co-author Susan Bartlett of Johns Hopkins and McGill University, in a press release.
Results were published in the Journal of Rheumatology.
The study was developed by Clifton O. Bingham III, MD, and director of the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center, who says watching arthritis patients improve by doing yoga gave him the idea to conduct a formal experiment.
The researchers stress that the poses incorporated in each yoga session were tailored to each individual’s needs, noting that it was unclear how yoga may impact the vulnerable joints of patients with arthritis.
Arthritis, when improperly managed, can affect patients’ mobility, mood, and quality of life. Participants in the study had to get permission from a doctor before being in the experiment.
“Our first step was to ensure that yoga was a reasonable and safe option for people with arthritis”.
Any arthritis sufferers wishing to take up the sport should speak to their doctor before starting yoga.
Classes were taught by experienced yoga therapists with additional training to modify poses to accommodate individual abilities.
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Bingham advises anyone with arthritis to address the specific joints of concern with their doctor before starting yoga and, importantly, find the right guru. “Practice acceptance of where you are and what your body can do on any given day”.
