Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Nov;29(11):988-97.
doi: 10.1097/AJP.0b013e31827da381.

Impact of iyengar yoga on quality of life in young women with rheumatoid arthritis

Subhadra Evans  1 , Mona Moieni, Kirsten Lung, Jennie Tsao, Beth Sternlieb, Mihaela Taylor, Lonnie Zeltzer
Affiliations

Impact of iyengar yoga on quality of life in young women with rheumatoid arthritis

Subhadra Evans et al. Clin J Pain. 2013 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, disabling disease that can greatly compromise health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a 6-week twice/week Iyengar yoga program on HRQoL of young adults with RA compared with a usual-care waitlist control group.

Methods: The program was designed to improve the primary outcome of HRQoL including pain and disability and psychological functioning in patients. Assessments were collected pretreatment, posttreatment, and at 2 months after treatment. Weekly ratings of anxiety, depression, pain, and sleep were also recorded. A total of 26 participants completed the intervention (yoga=11; usual-care waitlist=15). All participants were female (mean age=28 y).

Results: Overall attrition was low at 15%. On average, women in the yoga group attended 96% of the yoga classes. No adverse events were reported. Relative to the usual-care waitlist, women assigned to the yoga program showed significantly greater improvement on standardized measures of HRQoL, pain disability, general health, mood, fatigue, acceptance of chronic pain, and self-efficacy regarding pain at posttreatment. Almost half of the yoga group reported clinically meaningful symptom improvement. Analysis of the uncontrolled effects and maintenance of treatment effects showed improvements in HRQoL general health, pain disability, and weekly ratings of pain, anxiety, and depression were maintained at follow-up.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that a brief Iyengar yoga intervention is a feasible and safe adjunctive treatment for young people with RA, leading to HRQoL, pain disability, fatigue, and mood benefits. Moreover, improvements in quality of life, pain disability, and mood persisted at the 2-month follow-up.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study participant flow chart.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentage of the yoga and control groups responding to the GIS categories
Figure 3
Figure 3
Weekly Monitoring of Pain, Sleep, Anxiety and Depression pre-, during and post- yoga for the combined yoga and waitlist groups
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Adam V, St-Pierre Y, Fautrel B, Clarke AE, Duffy CM, Penrod JR. What is the impact of adolescent arthritis and rheumatism? Evidence from a national sample of Canadians. J Rheumatol. 2005;32(2):354–61. - PubMed
    1. Foster HE, Marshall N, Myers A, Dunkley P, Griffiths ID. Outcome in adults with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a quality of life study. Arthritis Rheum. 2003;48(3):767–75. - PubMed
    1. Ungerer JA, Horgan B, Chaitow J, Champion GD. Psychosocial functioning in children and young adults with juvenile arthritis. Pediatrics. 1988;81(2):195–202. - PubMed
    1. Daul P, Grisanti J. Monitoring response to therapy in rheumatoid arthritis - perspectives from the clinic. Bull NYU Hosp Jt Dis. 2009;67(2):236–42. - PubMed
    1. Emery H. Pediatric rheumatology: what does the future hold? Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2004;85(8):1382–4. - PubMed