A recent study has shown that yoga can help chronic neck pain. This study was completed in Germany and published in the Journal of Pain. It showed that Yoga offers many therapeutic benefits for patients who suffer from neck pain. Patients had improvement psychologically and also improvement in their quality of life.
It has been shown that 20% of the population suffers from some type of neck pain. This can be do a structural reason or because of an injury such as whiplash. Most people treat neck pain with drugs, often anti inflammatory medications. This can cause side effects such as nausea and dizziness.
The study showed that a particular type of yoga was especially helpful: lyengar yoga, has been shown effective in other pain syndromes as well, including lower back pain. This yoga utilizes supportive props and the sequences of postures can be tailored to address an individual's medical problem.
The findings of this German Study showed there was a significant decrease in pain intensity in the yoga group vs the exercise group. The authors stated that yoga might enhance both the tone of muscles and release muscle tension. Relaxation responses, therefore, could decrease stress related muscle tension and modify neurobiological pain perception. This study showed that lyengar yoga is a treatment method for chronic neck pain that has been found to be safe and effective.
Source: Yoga Shown Effective for Treating Chronic Neck Pain
