Further Proof: Yoga Really Works

Just in case you needed some reassurance your practice actually works….

I went out to the mailbox today and there it was: The latest edition (Oct ’18) of the medical journal, “American Family Physician.” It was for my brother, but I brought it up to my room and had it on the floor. He said, “Oh, I’ll grab that.” And I replied, “Not so fast.” I wanted it (temporarily) as it has some awfully familiar looking positions on the cover. Take a look for yourself…

There is (a) matsyendrasana or seated spine twist, (b) sphinx pose, and (c) the beginnings of utksepa mudra, or bhastrikasana / bellows pose.

So I kept the journal in my room for a bit till I was satisfied I had garnered all the info I was seeking.

“Strong Evidence” Yoga Effectively Treats Low Back Pain

The feature article in this issue of the “American Family Physician” is about low back pain and the efficacy of different modalities in addressing and alleviating the symptoms. The below chart shares some of their findings.

First, we must bear in mind that western medicine is very methodical and deliberate in determining whether a certain treatment works or not. They want hard facts, evidence, and repeated, corroborating findings etc. Even if they think something is harmful, like smoking, they will not come out and say so until they have clinical studies documenting the deleterious effects of smoking. Similarly, even if they believe something might be health supportive, they will not make such a claim until clinical trials support that hypothesis. Well, in this study, they found that yoga is very helpful in addressing low back pain.

Now, of course, as practitioners we all know that yoga postures are basically a panacea for low back pain. The findings in this study are not new to us. The articles states that there is “strong evidence” that yoga helps cure back pain. That “strong evidence” phrase is about the highest vote of confidence you can get from the western medical establishment. And if you look below at their chart, yoga is the only modality or treatment option that received such a high, substantiated rating. The only other category that compared was intensive patient education, which is really about awareness of the injury and is not a treatment per se.

Take a look below….

Those who practice already know how yoga prevents and cures all kinds of back ailments, and now we have further support from the traditional, western medical body. Here is the article – Mechanical Low Back Pain. And verily there have been innumerable reports and studies about yoga and back pain; this particular study above is from the conservative, medical establishment.

But Wait – There’s More…

Just as I was going through the above article, Coni texted me about a piece in The Wall Street Journal, “The Exercise That Helps Mental Health Most.” There also, they were touting the benefits of yoga. And while I could not secure that article, it led me to the following….

“Most patients with anxiety, or even for individuals undergoing a stressful period, experience tense muscles. They can feel quite ‘wired’ and on guard when these moods strike. However, quality exercise helps loosen muscles and relieve this pent-up tension. The right exercise session can even lessen the tension enough to get rid of the anxiety entirely for a little while. Although most exercises are good at doing this, perhaps the best is yoga, since the goal is to stretch your muscles and improve your flexibility and strength.” (Read more)

Conclusion

The fact is that yoga offers a whole lot more than what the above two articles have concluded. But in a world where western medicine proceeds ahead at its own, methodical pace, at least their findings corroborate the beneficial effects of yoga. That is the interesting aspect. I have yet to see any scientific article about true, yogic disciplines that has ever challenged the yogic method. Either western scientific studies have proven that a particular yogic practice (meditation, yoga postures, diet etc) has a positive impact, or those academies and institutions have yet to do a thorough study on a particular practice (such as fasting, pranayama etc).

My feeling has always been, why wait for the studies. Yogis devised these practices through their deep intuitional science, and they have been advanced through centuries and generations of yogic living. So why wait – jump in – incorporate the practice – get the benefits – and just know that when the western, medical complex does complete their findings, they will once again demonstrate that those yogis have been on the right track all along, i.e. for the last 7,000 years.

Further Proof: Yoga Really Works