How chair yoga could become the go-to treatment for arthritis
Chair yoga may help to reduce pain in older adults suffering from arthritis, new research suggests.
Based around the ancient form of exercise, it allows people with reduced mobility to also take part.
It helps to boost the strength and flexibility of older people and could become an effective treatment for those with the debilitating condition.
Currently the only treatment for osteoarthritis, which has no cure, revolves around medication and lifestyle changes.
But experts say this could provide different options in alleviating pain for sufferers of the most common form of the condition.
Osteoarthritis is when the surfaces within joints to become so damaged that they don’t move as smoothly as they should.
It’s believed to affect up to 10 per cent of men and 18 per cent of women worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
Hip and knee replacements are often given to patients who have been unsuccessful in finding treatment.
Researchers from Florida Atlantic University randomly assigned 131 older adults with osteoarthritis to either chair yoga or a health education programme.
Participants went to their 45-minute session twice a week for around two months.
Pain measurements were taken before, during and after, in the study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
While pain interference (how it affects one’s life), balance, gait, speed, fatigue and functional ability tests were also performed.
They found those in the chair yoga group showed a greater reduction in pain interference during their sessions.
This benefit lasted for around three months – four weeks after they had originally finished.
General pain, fatigue and gait also improved as a result of the chair yoga sessions.
However, these were not sustained after they had stopped turning up to their classes.
And the participants in chair yoga showed no difference in their balancing ability.
Writing in the journal, the authors said: ‘Chair yoga should be further explored as a non-pharmacologic intervention for older people with osteoarthritis.’
This comes after a major study in March found paracetamol was completely ineffective in reducing the pain of osteoarthritis.
The research, which was published in The Lancet, warned no matter how high the dose, it did little to ease agony.
Paracetamol has traditionally been the main treatment for the condition, because although stronger drugs are more effective, paracetamol has fewer side effects.
* This article was originally written and published on http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4076220/How-chair-yoga-treatment-arthritis-sufferers-Just-2-sessions-week-helps-reduce-joint-pain-older-adults.html
