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Exercise, not bed rest, is the best way of easing chronic lower back pain, according to a well-established body of research.

But what type of exercises should be used to overcome this debilitating condition? A new U.S. study suggests that a gentle yoga program produces better results than conventional exercises.

As part of the study, 101 adults were divided into three groups. One group attended 12 weekly classes to learn yoga and practised the routines at home. A second group attended 12 weekly sessions of aerobic, strengthening and stretching exercises, plus did them at home. And a third group was given a self-care book on back pain...

The original article can be found at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051223/HTAYLOR23/TPEnvironment/

The original article can found in the Media Doctor archives.

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This story discusses the outcomes of a study that looks at different treatment modalities for acute back pain. It reports on a recently published study in the Annals of Internal Medicine showing some benefit of a certain type of yoga in the treatment of lower back pain. While the results sound promising, the report doesn't go much beyond the Annals' press release which likely prompted it and lacks some necessary detail.

This three-armed study of people with lower back pain found that those who did specific yoga exercises did better than patients in two other arms of the trial (regular back exercises or having a self-care book on back pain) although the outcomes are only vaguely described. The time frame of the study is mentioned (26 weeks) which is a reasonable time period to use to study the impact of this kind of treatment. What we don't learn, however, is if there are any possible harms associated with doing yoga. The article does note that more aggressive types of yoga could be harmful and that this type of yoga is not for spinal disk injuries.

A few additional details may have provided important information for the primarily Canadian audience, such as: how widespread is the use of viniyoga in Canada? Is it a treatment covered by any provincial health plan? And how does it compare to other treatments in terms of costs? Does this type of yoga exercise increase the person's ability to undertake activities of daily living? These kinds of details may be important given that back pain is relatively widespread and the health benefits of yoga for a variety of health conditions are already fairly well established.

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