Gentle Yoga ‘cuts pain of arthritis’

This article by the Daily Telegraph was handed to me by Paul Moore from my Wednesday class.  I am posting it on my website as I have had similar feedback from students from my chair yoga classes which have been running for over 3 years.

“Practising yoga can reduce the pain of arthritis, a study has found.

Sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis who performed a gentle style of yoga showed ‘statistically significant improvements’ in their health, according to researchers from the Emirates Arthritis Foundation.

They studied 47 patients, 26 of whom were asked to practise Raj yoga, which combines exercise and breathing techniques.  After 12 sessions their disease activity score and health assessments were better than the control group.

Dr Humeira Badsha, one of the study’s authors told the European League Against Rheumatism’s annual congress in London that he hoped the findings would pave the way for more research into the potential benefits of yoga.

The founder of the EAF added ‘Most patients with rheumatoid arthritis do not exercise regulalry, even though those who do report less pain and are therefore more physically active.  While our study has been conducted in a small group of patients the results show clear benefits for patients who regularly practise Rai yoga.

We believe practising yoga longer term could in fact result in further significant improvements and hope our study drives further research’.”