Back pain relief is as close as the nearest yoga studio

September 3, 12:29 PMDenver Healthy Living ExaminerLisa Ryckman

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Low back pain is one of the main reasons people go to the doctor.

But a new study suggests that they should take a trip to their closest yoga studio instead.

Americans spend more than $30 billion a year to diagnose and treat their chronic low back pain. But people who went to a yoga class had better moods and less pain than a group treated with the usual stuff.

That's according to a three-year study by West Virginia University, published in this month's edition of the journal Spine.

Researchers rounded up 90 people with chronic low back pain and either sent them to a 90-minute Ivengar yoga class twice a week or treated them with conventional methods.

The yoga students focused on poses specifically designed to stretch and strengthen the back.

“The yoga group had less pain, less functional disability and less depression compared with the control group,” says Kimberly Williams, research assistant professor in the Department of Community Medicine.

And they still felt better -- even six months after the classes ended.

Research now confirms what yoga folk have been saying for years.

Give it a try.