A recent small study on the benefits of yoga for low back pain published in the journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine by researchers at Boston University found that 12 weeks of hiatha yoga had a significant improvement in low back pain in comparison to patients that continued traditional treatment for their low back pain. The study followed 30 patients that either participated in a 12 week hiatha yoga class and received instructions on home yoga exercises or continued their current treatment for their low back pain prescribed by their doctor.

At the end of the 12 week peroid, the yoga for back pain group had an 80% decrease in their use of medication for the low back pain and 73% of the yoga group felt that their back pain had improved compared to only 27% in the “treatment as usual” group. There was also a measurable  decrease in the severity of the pain reported by the yoga group with the reported change in low back pain reduced by roughly one-third from when they started the 12 week program – a significant change when compared to the “no yoga” group that only reported about a 5% decrease in their low back pain after 12 weeks of seeing their doctor and taking various pain medications.

Commentary – We’re not surprised by the results of this yoga for low back pain study. Many of the patients that we see with low back pain tend to have either significant core and low back muscle weakness or an inability to utilize their core muscles properly. A well-instructed yoga class that emphasizes core stability can go a long way in not only decreasing a patient’s low back pain, but also cut down on their need for medications as well.

After the 12 weeks, those in the yoga group had far lower pain scores than the control — their pain decreased by a third, compared with 5% in the control group. The yoga group also decreased their use of pain medication by 80%, while the control group’s medication didn’t change. At the end of the study, 73% of the yoga group said they had overall improvement in back pain, compared with 27% of the control group.

“Our pilot study showed that yoga is well-received in these communities and may be effective for reducing pain and pain medication use,” said Dr. Robert Saper in a news release. Saper, the lead author of the study, is also an assistant professor of family medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine and director of integrative medicine at Boston Medical Center. The study appears in the November issue of the journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine.