New studies highlight yoga as one of the most effective practices to reduce knee osteoarthritis pain. It offers advantages that equal or even exceed those offered by traditional strength training. The exploratory study followed participants over 12 weeks. In doing so, it concluded that yoga is effective in reducing pain in addition to improving mobility, balance, and flexibility.
Yoga is a low-impact exercise, which can help make the practice more accessible for people of all fitness levels. The practice would be easily incorporated into a well-rounded, multidimensional exercise program, incorporating aspects of both aerobic conditioning and strength training. These results suggest that yoga therapy is particularly helpful for older patients. This increase in stability not only prevents falls, but makes walking more efficient and comfortable.
Members of the yoga group experienced meaningful increases in quality of life by 24 weeks. They showed small but significant improved symptoms of depression at 12 weeks. These combined physical and mental health benefits lie at the heart of yoga’s popularity.
Dr. Timothy Gibson of The University of Western Australia recommends yoga as a low-impact, therapeutic exercise for people with knee osteoarthritis. He highlights its transformative potential to restore access to mobility and alleviate suffering and pain. Continuing the trend of no-nonsense, effective statements, Dr. Pamela Mehta has this to say about yoga’s effectiveness, noting it helps tremendously with mobility, balance and flexibility.
“Yoga can be great for knee osteoarthritis symptoms,” – Pamela Mehta
Yoga outperformed standard strength training in several measures at 24 weeks, according to the study. This included clinically meaningful improvements in pain, function and stiffness measured by the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). Test participants had improved performance in a quick-paced walking test, as well.
Dr. Mehta went on to explain the impact of yoga. It mainly helps to restore smooth gliding movement on the knee, warming up the stiffness. She stated, “It helps with mobility and stretching, which can greatly impact pain.”
Additionally, the mindfulness component of yoga goes a long way in enhancing mental wellness as well. Yet according to Dr. Mehta, this non-clinical dimension of practice largely determines how people experience and cope with pain.
“Yoga also helps with mindfulness and can improve mental health in a way that exercises don’t. This has a huge impact on how we experience pain,” – Pamela Mehta
While that’s great news for many, experts warn to not turn to yoga for arthritis and forget everything else. According to Dr. Bert Mandelbaum, a controlled multimodal approach is the key. He believes that any exercise prescription should involve aerobic conditioning in addition to yoga and strength training.
“What we need to know is that [yoga’s] not going to hurt us, but it’s not going to be that robust for us [for treating] arthritis just by itself,” – Bert Mandelbaum
According to the study’s results, this aspect of yoga supports its incorporation as an important component of a comprehensive exercise regimen. Ensuring yoga practice complements other training is key. Experience all of the awesome benefits yoga brings, but make sure it fits into your overall training.
“Yoga and strengthening exercises are perfect together, so long as you don’t overdo either one. I always recommend to my patients to practice gentle yoga for mindfulness and mobility while building up their muscle strength with exercises,” – Pamela Mehta
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