Yoga May Improve Arthritis Symptoms, Study Finds

Arthritis patients who want to remain active and reduce their pain may want to ask their doctor about trying yoga.

In what’s believed to be the largest study of its kind, researchers from Johns Hopkins have found that practicing yoga helped people with knee osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis improve their pain by 20 percent. They also had more energy, felt happier and were able to complete more physical tasks at home.

Results of the study were published in the April issue of the Journal of Rheumatology.

“There’s a real surge of interest in yoga as a complementary therapy, with 1 in 10 people in the U.S. now practicing yoga to improve their health and fitness,” says Susan J. Bartlett, Ph.D., an adjunct associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins and associate professor at McGill University “Yoga may be especially well suited to people with arthritis because it combines physical activity with potent stress management and relaxation techniques, and focuses on respecting limitations that can change from day to day.”

The study, which examined the effect of yoga on physical and psychological health and quality of life among people with arthritis, comes at a crucial time. Nationwide, arthritis is the leading cause of disability. With no cure available today, many patients are told to stay active to manage their arthritis. However, only 10 percent of arthritis patients are able to meet these activity guidelines for different reasons. Researchers believe it is because some are in too much pain while others are unsure which exercise is safe for arthritis.

For the study, researchers took a group of 75 people with knee osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis and assigned some of them to practice yoga three times a week, with one of those practice session at home. The other two sessions were with an experienced and knowledgable instructor to ensure safety.

“For people with other conditions, yoga has been shown to improve pain, pain-related disability and mood,” said Clifton O. Bingham III, M.D., associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center Bingham. “But there were no well-controlled trial of yoga that could tell us if it was safe and effective for people with arthritis, and many health professionals have concerns about how yoga might affect vulnerable joints given the emphasis on changing positions and on being flexible. Our first step was to ensure that yoga was reasonable and safe option for people with arthritis. Our instructors were experienced yoga therapists with additional training to modify poses to accommodate individual abilities.”

If patients were taking medication, they continued to do so while practicing yoga. And before any of the participants started yoga, they were screened by doctors.

Bingham urged arthritis patients considering yoga to first consult their doctor to discuss any specific joints that would be of concern and to find ways to modify yoga poses.

“Find a teacher who asks the right questions about limitations and works closely with you as an individual,” Bingham said. “Start with gentle yoga classes. Practice acceptance of where you are and what your body can do on any given day.”

Source: Johns Hopkins news release

+ Read about the benefits of physical therapy for treating knee pain.

+ Do you suffer from arthritis? At Bon Secours In Motion, we help patients through physical therapy to improve mobility, strength, and their endurance while reducing pain, stiffness and discomfort. Our arthritis rehabilitation program also emphasizes independence quality of life with occupational therapy and joint protection techniques.