Maruti Ram Gudavalli
Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research,USA
Title: State of the research on yoga as a self-care for low back and neck pain
Biography
Biography: Maruti Ram Gudavalli
Abstract
Low back and neck pain are common musculoskeletal disorders that have impact on the quality of life, absenteeism from work, and are costly burden in terms of lost work days, as well as treatment costs. People suffering low back and neck pain seek care from several providers such as medical doctors, doctors of chiropractic, doctors of physical therapy, massage therapists, and other manual therapists in addition to self-care booklets. Yoga is another form of self-care that is becoming popular in United States and receiving attention for scientific investigation. Yoga is an ancient mind body approach that was originated from India, and involves physical activity, breathing exercises, relaxation, and meditation. There have been number of research studies studying yoga as an intervention comparing to usual care and exercise for low back pain and few studies for neck pain. PubMed search identified 102 articles using the key word “Yoga” AND “low back pain”, and 32 articles using the key words “yoga” AND “neck pain”. These studies demonstrated benefits of yoga for low back and neck pain in relieving pain and improve functionality. However, these studies are limited by the small scale nature, broad lack of homogeneity, lack of long-term follow-up. This presentation will highlight the strengths and limitations of the studies on yoga for low back and neck pain. Suggestions will be made how larger well designed studies with longer term follow-up as well as need for studies for prevention of low back and neck pain will be discussed.