Feasibility study of a modified yoga program for chronic pain among elderly adults in assisted and independent living

Abstract

Context: Yoga improves quality of life in elders ≥65 years, but studies among elders with chronic pain are limited.

Objective: Conduct a feasibility study of gentle yoga among elders in assisted and independent living.

Design: Single arm pre/post clinical trial.

Subjects: Adults (≥65 years of age) with self-identified chronic pain (≥3 on a 10-point scale, lasting for ≥3 months) and no current yoga practice.

Intervention: Ten weekly 60-min gentle yoga classes tailored to elderly adults.

Outcome measures: At baseline, weeks 5, 10 (end of intervention), and 20 (follow-up), we collected data on feasibility (adherence, retention, safety), pain, anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and physical function.

Results: Twenty-six participants enrolled (88% women, 77% white, 58% in assisted living) with average age of 86.6 ± 4.4 (Mean, STD). Twenty participants completed the intervention, with 90% adhering (completing ≥6 classes). Nine participants (45% of completers) experienced adverse events, which were non-serious and related to transient musculoskeletal pain. No adverse events resulted in study withdrawal. Participants reported being somewhat likely to recommend yoga to a friend, and quite a bit likely to do yoga again. At the end of the intervention, four of twenty participants reported practicing yoga outside of class. Anxiety significantly decreased from 5.80 (SE=0.90) to 4.44 (SE=0.74) (p = 0.014), but there were no changes in other measures.

Conclusions: Our pilot 10-week yoga study was generally safe for and suitable to assisted and independent living elderly adults. Future studies are needed to examine other effects of yoga in assisted/independent living adults with chronic pain.

Keywords: Assisted living; Chronic pain; Feasibility; Gentle yoga; Very-old adults.