This is an excerpt of a blog originally published on Evidently Cochrane
In this blog for our Evidence for Everyday Health Choices series, Jack Leahy, Cochrane UK’s Communications and Engagement Officer, writes about his own experience of practising yoga and the latest Cochrane evidence on yoga for people with chronic non-specific low back pain.
“Keep twisting! Wring out all those toxins!”
“Now lie back and feel the stale blood drain out of your legs.”
“Relax and feel small to moderate improvements in back-related function at three and six months.”
Two of those quotations are biologically impossible instructions I have received in yoga classes; the other is based on a recent Cochrane review. Whilst I feel there is often too much ‘woo’ around yoga practice, I enjoy the classes and there is a growing evidence base for the benefits of yoga. It won’t wring toxins from your body (your liver and kidneys will do that), but let’s take a look at some of the evidence on yoga for chronic non-specific low back pain (or general back ache to most people)...