Chronic low back pain in veterans and the role of yoga: An overview of randomized controlled trials

Authors

Suresh Kumar Thanneeru, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, BhopalFollow
Roshan Chanchlani, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, BhopalFollow
Pramod K. Sharma, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, BhopalFollow
Sudarsan Agarwal, SVRRGGH TirupatiFollow
Nalla Srinivas, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, BhopalFollow
M Sukumar, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, BhopalFollow
Amit Agrawal, All India Institute of Medical Sciences BhopalFollow

Abstract

Introduction One of the most debilitating diseases in elderly is the chronic low back pain (cLBP) which is most often nonspecific and involves using unrelenting medication and physical therapy. Yoga practice has been explored to treat this condition and was shown good results. This systematic review was done to emphasis the role of Yoga in management of cLBP. Objectives To evaluate the effectiveness of Yoga in pain relief and improvement in disability for veterans suffering from cLBP. Methods A systematic search was conducted on PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Cochrane to identify studies on usage of Yoga in the treatment of cLBP. Articles were sorted according to PRISMA guidelines, and the risk of bias was assessed using the JBI clinical appraisal tool. Data from the selected articles were synthesized qualitatively. Results From 68 identified articles, 6 were selected. All the articles are from West except one from India. A total of 608 patients were included across all the studies. Improvement in pain was measured variedly across all the studies, but the results were consistently showed significance in all the studies. Similar results were observed with disability index and psychological indexes used. Conclusion Yoga has been used for various health benefits, including the impact of yoga on chronic low back pain (cLBP). Chronic low back pain is a disabling problem, particularly among the elderly, and there are many causes of cLBP, but most cases involve nonspecific pain. Although the studies have shown benefits with yoga, there is a need to gather evidence from RCTs conducted on the use of yoga for cLBP patients.

Recommended Citation

Thanneeru, Suresh Kumar; Chanchlani, Roshan; Sharma, Pramod K.; Agarwal, Sudarsan; Srinivas, Nalla; Sukumar, M; and Agrawal, Amit (2022) "Chronic low back pain in veterans and the role of yoga: An overview of randomized controlled trials," Manipal Journal of Medical Sciences: Vol. 7: Iss. 2, Article 3.
Available at: https://impressions.manipal.edu/mjms/vol7/iss2/3