Yoga beneficial in fibromyalgia

Women with fibromyalgia experience reduced symptoms and improved function

Yoga reduces symptoms of fibromyalgia

following an eight week yoga program, according to research published in the medical journal Pain earlier this month.

Many fibromyalgia patients find standard medical care ineffective for reducing their symptoms including pain and fatigue, according to lead investigator and study author James Carson, Ph.D (Oregon Health and Science University – Portland).

Exercise is often prescribed for fibromyalgia, but for many patients it is hard to find an exercise program that is tolerable for them. Yoga poses done in a gentle way may be a good option.

The study allocated 25 women to an eight week “Yoga of Awareness” program, and compared their progress to 28 women randomised to standard care. The yoga program consisted of gentle yoga poses, modified as needed to accommodate conditions such as knee osteoarthritis or carpal tunnel syndrome.

The average age of the participants was 54 years, and 68% had been symptomatic for more than 10 years. Patients who were already engaged in a yoga practice, those who were too disabled for meaningful participation in the yoga program, and those who were scheduled for elective surgery were excluded from the study.

“The most surprising finding for us was that most patients became so fully engaged in the home yoga practices they were assigned,” Dr. Carson said. On average, the patients spent 40 minutes practicing yoga at home, including about 19 minutes of postures, 13 minutes of seated meditation, and 8 minutes of breathing exercises. Those who practiced more had better results on several of the study outcomes, he noted.

Yoga practices, if taught in a tailored, accessible manner, are not only well tolerated and effective; they are practiced with an unexpected degree of enthusiasm.

The results also showed that patients in the yoga group were more likely to use positive pain-management strategies such as problem solving, religion, acceptance, and relaxation, and less likely to resort to negative pain-management strategies such as self-isolation, disengagement, and catastrophizing.

Dr Carson says that he is next planning to study important changes that yoga may cause in abnormal pain pathways and functioning known to play a key role in fibromyalgia.

Reference: (Pain 2010;151:530-9)

Photo credit: flickr/leoprieto