Yoga for Seniors with Arthritis: A Pilot Study

Abstract

To examine whether Yoga classes can relieve arthritis symptoms in older adults, Yoga classes were offered once a week for six weeks to 23 older adults (mean age 71; 19 of the 23 were diagnosed with arthritis) in four different senior institutions in East Harlem, New York. Most participants were of Puerto Rican or Spanish-speaking origins, and all had low incomes and little knowledge of or prior exposure to Yoga. Self-reported levels of pain, stiffness and sleeplessness were collected at the beginning and end of the six-week Yoga program. Statistical analyses revealed significant improvements in pain and stiffness, with large effect sizes. The classes had no significant effect on sleeplessness. Twenty-two of the 23 participants also reported home practice of breathing and poses. The results of this pilot study provide promising evidence that group Yoga classes can reduce pain and stiffness among seniors with arthritis. The study also demonstrates the feasibility of this type of intervention: a group format delivered to seniors where they already live or seek resources and that accommodates a diverse range of abilities and health conditions.

Yoga as an Alternative and Complementary Approach for Arthritis

“…Of the 9 interventions 5 were done in the United States 11,12,14,16,19 and 4 in India. 13,15,17,18 Of the 9 interventions, 2 used randomized controlled designs, 15,18 1 used quasi-experimental design, 14 5 used pretest-posttest designs, 11,12,16,17,19 and 1 was an observational study between complementary and alternative medicine users and non-complementary and alternative medicine users for arthritis. 13 The mean sample size calculated for all 17 studies in this review was 56.44 with a standard deviation of 72.33 and range of 5 to 235.…”

“…13 The mean sample size calculated for all 17 studies in this review was 56.44 with a standard deviation of 72.33 and range of 5 to 235. Total sample sizes (n) were typically less than 30 with 5 studies 11,12,14,16,19 falling in this group and only 1 study had the sample size more than 100. 18 The sites of the yoga intervention for arthritis were in colleges/universities (n ¼ 3), 14,16,19 hospitals/outpatient clinics (n ¼ 3), 13,15,18 community settings (n ¼ 2), 11,12 and at a residential yoga camp.…”

“…17 The school of yoga was not identified by 2 studies. 12,13 It was identified as chair yoga by 2 studies, 14,19 integrated yoga by 2 studies, 15,18 Iyengar yoga by 1 study, 11 viniyoga by one study, 16 and hatha yoga by 1 study. 17 The duration of yoga interventions varied from 6 hours 12 to 46 hours.…”

“…13,14,18,19 Several other studies had also measured pain and functioning using other scales. 11,12,15,16,17 Two studies 15,17 used a physiological measure of C-reactive protein. Two studies 12,16 focused on sleep aspects of arthritis and 3 studies 14,16,19 focused on depression associated with arthritis.…”

“…The first question that this review addressed was-''Has yoga been found to be efficacious in alleviating symptoms of arthritis since the 2011 review?'' From the 9 studies, a majority (n ¼ 6) [11][12][13][14][15]18 demonstrated positive changes in psychological or physiological outcome measures related to arthritis. The other 3 remaining studies 16,17,19 had mixed results where some of the indicators showed improvement whereas the other measures did not change.…”