Fibromyalgia Bends to Yoga

Can yoga can help relieve symptoms of fibromyalgia?

ByABC News
October 14, 2010, 2:05 PM

Oct. 16, 2010— -- A little bit of yoga may take away some of the debilitating symptoms of fibromyalgia, results of a pilot study show.

Patients who stretched and meditated once a week as part of the "Yoga of Awareness" pilot program had significantly greater improvements in symptom scores, including pain, fatigue, and depression, than those who were wait-listed for the program, according to James Carson, of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, and colleagues.

They reported their findings online in the journal Pain.

Read this story on www.medpagetoday.com.

"The findings of this pilot study provide promising preliminary support for the beneficial effects of yoga in patients with fibromyalgia," Carson said in a statement.

The literature supporting yoga's beneficial in effects in a host of conditions has been growing.

For fibromyalgia patients in particular, yoga may fulfill a need for both exercise and coping skills, which are required for treatment in conjunction with pharmacy, the researchers said.

For this study, they enrolled 53 female patients with fibromyalgia, who were either randomized to the eight-week Yoga of Awareness program or were wait-listed and got the standard of care. They chose women because the condition tends to be more prevalent in this gender.

Some of the women were taking medication to mitigate their symptoms.

Each class included 40 minutes of gentle stretching, 25 minutes of mindfulness meditation, 10 minutes of breathing techniques, 20 minutes of lessons on applying yogic principles to coping strategies, and 25 minutes of group discussions.

The women also were told they could practice yoga at home. Their mean age was 53.7 years and their average time since diagnosis was 11.6 years.

The researchers found that the women who practiced yoga had greater improvements in symptoms and functioning, including pain, fatigue, mood, pain catastrophizing, acceptance and other coping strategies.

Based on the fibromyalgia impact questionnaire, overall improvement significantly favored those in the yoga program. These women also had significantly greater improvements in symptoms based on this scale.