USA, July 23, 2002: Physicians in the U.S. and abroad are conducting a variety of studies to determine whether yoga offers health benefits beyond general fitness and relieve symptoms associated with serious medical problems. Early results suggest that a regular yoga regimen can offer relief for patients suffering from asthma, chronic back pain, arthritis and obsessive compulsive disorder, among other problems. Today, several American doctors are pursuing randomized yoga studies, and the National Institutes of Health is funding clinical trials of yoga for treating insomnia and multiple sclerosis. Medical or “therapeutic” yoga focuses on breathing and meditation techniques that calm the mind, increase lung capacity and reduce stress. It differs from the intense techniques popularly taught in health clubs. Dr. Vijay Vad, sports medicine specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, is studying 50 patients with herniated disks who are suffering from lower back pain. Half the group does not take drugs, but instead spends 15 minutes, three days a week on an exercise program that is about 70 percent yoga. After three months, the results showed 80 percent of patients in the yoga group reported that their pain was reduced by at least half.
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