If you're suffering from chronic lower back pain and are looking for exercises or some way to treat it without medications or want to find some way to get pain relief and quit taking any drugs, a new study may help you. The NIH, the National Institutes of Health, funded the study designed to compare pain medications with a particular style of yoga for treatment of lower back pain.
As you may know if you're having chronic pain or chronic lower back pain or any pain in the lower back it can cause you to be depressed. Depression just seems to go along with it and for good reason, but in this new study, depression is also relieved in the course of treatment.
The people in the study were divided into two groups. One group was taking the usual pain medications and the other group practicing yoga two times a week for about six months. The type of yoga was Iyengar. Created by using particular movements of the muscles Iyengar yoga focuses on body alignment. It differs from other styles of yoga because it uses wall ropes, chairs and blocks.
These supports are used to help support the body during postures, otherwise called asanas. They help decrease any pain in the muscles and joints. For people new to Iyengar yoga the supports make yoga easy to learn.
At the end of the six months, the people in the Iyengar yoga group had reduced pain and greater function and significantly reduced their symptoms of depression more so than those who took pain medications. And amazingly, after another six months after the study had ended they continued to reap the benefits!
Once you take a class in Iyengar yoga, you can do most of the postures at home with your own supports. If you've been suffering from chronic lower back pain, it's certainly worth a try. It's always good to find alternative treatments for chronic lower back pain to help reduce or stop pain medications if you're taking them and avoid possible dependence or addiction.
Iyengar yoga is easy to learn and can be done at home. In this study, just the twice a week sessions over the six months showed significant improvement so it's well worth the effort.
Why not try Iyengar yoga and experience the benefits yourself. Also, there is a lot you can do to reduce, diminish or stop chronic lower back pain besides medications and in addition to Iyengar yoga. Many have done it and no longer suffer. Make sure to check with your doctor, whether you know the cause of your pain or not, before starting any new exercise or treatment program. Think alternative treatments and treatments without drugs whenever you can to avoid the risks that all drugs bring.
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