A review of research on daily yoga exercise on pain, catastrophizing, and sleep amongst individuals with fibromyalgia
In Yoga Therapy Greece we combine the ancient yoga wisdom and the evidence informed practices suggested by research. Critically evaluating the latest and most robust research articles, we are happy to share a small summary of them hoping that you will find it interesting to read and a help to understand the effectiveness of yoga in the management of fibromyalgia.
The recent and robust study from Harvard Medical School, Israel and Boston medical centres’ researchers, ‘Impact of daily yoga-based exercise on pain, catastrophizing, and sleep amongst individuals with fibromyalgia’ by Lazaridou et al., (2019) shows the effectiveness of yoga intervention in reducing the main symptoms of fibromyalgia such as sleep issues and fatigue, pain and pain catastrophizing thoughts.
It is well known that exercise has a positive impact on most of fibromyalgia symptoms. Evidence suggests that moderately intense, relatively frequent (at least 3 times a week) and for at least 6 weeks, reduces pain, fatigue and depression.
In this robust pilot study, a 6 weeks yoga program consisting of movements (asanas), breathing and meditation plus a 30 minutes daily home program between the weekly classes (the way we work in yoga therapy for groups) had very promising results. The study results are similar to many research studies (Tilbrook et al., 2011, Tiederman et al., 2018) showing reduced pain, disability, pain catastrophizing and acceptance as well as reduced cortisol, proinflammatory cytokines and increased endorphin levels through consistent gentle supervised and grade yoga practice.
Participants who had increased fear of movement gained the most from the mild movements and the meditative components of yoga practice but the ones who had increased levels of anxiety benefited less showing the need for personal yoga therapy sessions.
In Yoga Therapy Greece, we design personalized yoga therapy programs based on the person’s lifestyle, needs and capabilities. The yoga therapy practices respect the need for pacing and are examples of self-care and self-compassion, attributes that especially people with fibromyalgia seem to need.
https://yogatherapygreece.com/ for details of IAYT Accredited 800 hours Yoga Therapy Training, personal and group yoga therapy sessions
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