Effect of Vakrasana on Blood Glucose Levels in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Randomized Controlled Study

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus is one of the most prevalent metabolic diseases. Literature suggests that yoga including a group of asanas reduces blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin levels in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, to the best of our knowledge, no known study evaluated the effects of a single asana (i.e., Vakrasana) in T2DM.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the effect of Vakrasanana on blood glucose levels in T2DM patients.

Materials and methods: Sixty T2DM patients aged 51.12 ± 6.43 years were randomly (1:1 ratio) allocated to yoga group (YG) and control group (CG). YG was asked to perform only one session of Vakrasana, while the CG was on rest in a sitting posture for 10 minutes. Random blood glucose (RBG) levels were assessed before and after the intervention.

Results: Within-group analysis showed a significant reduction in RBG levels in YG (P < .001; Effect size (d) = 0.203), while a significant increase in RBG was observed in CG (P < .001; Effect size (d) = 0.077), compared to the respective pre-test assessments. Whereas the between-groups analysis did not show a significant difference in RBG levels between the two groups (z = 1.597; P = 0.110). However, YG had a small effect size (Effect size (d) = 0.288) in reducing RBG levels compared to CG.

Conclusion: Ten minutes of Vakrasana has some positive effect in reducing blood glucose levels, unlike rest in sitting posture in patients with T2DM. However, further studies are required to validate the findings of this study.