The Science of Yoga - What Research Reveals

In a world that demands substantive clinical research evidence to support different approaches to health care, yoga is gaining attention. Despite rapid advances in medical technology and continuing pharmaceutical research into using medication to relieve symptoms, in the past few years we have seen a significant growth in research addressing the impact of yoga on health and wellbeing.

To mark World Yoga Day on Sunday, we have collected some of the latest research into yoga in a virtual special issue.

Yoga is an ancient practice; it has been associated with cultural, religious and physical activity for more than 2,000 years. Its practitioners have asserted its effect on balancing emotional, physical and spiritual health for decades, but only recently has there been a move to substantiate these claims through research. So far, the result has been definitive, significant evidence of the broad-ranging benefits of yoga, both as a treatment and as a preventative form of medicine and health care.

The health benefits of yoga

In this technological age, health care paradoxes abound. Computerization, designed to facilitate daily life, carries with it a demand to be externally connected to events at all times. In doing so, paradoxically, we become alienated from reflecting personally upon body, mind and spirit. Use of pharmacological medication can assuage some of our symptoms, but this approach can also mean that we can carry on as normal with our busy lives, reducing our ability to monitor and focus on our personal health and wellbeing.

At a time when technology and drugs dominate the way we live our lives, it is refreshing that yoga not only persists but that researchers are taking the time to explore exactly how this practice can help us. In a climate focusing upon evidence-based medicine, it is important to be able to substantiate clinical claims made for any therapy, and yoga is no exception. We need to know who would benefit from a therapy, contraindications of use and the extent to which specific medical issues that can be ameliorated by a particular therapy.

Journals like Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice frequently publish research on yoga. Recent papers have focused on practicing yoga to reduce essential hypertension and anxiety during pregnancy, its effect on regulating heart rhythm, the connection between yoga and changes in brain wave activity, the improvement of core stability and balance, and relief of post-partum depression.

Highlights of the special issue

To assess the potential of yoga poses for training and rehabilitation, the authors of this study examined the muscle activation patterns in selected trunk and hip muscles. Before this figure, they explain: "In the Downward facing dog pose ( Fig. 2a), the EOA showed significantly higher activity than RAU and RAL (p < .018). In the Upward facing dog pose ( Fig. 2b), the LT and EOA produced significantly higher muscle activities than RAU and RAL (p < .019). In the High plank pose ( Fig. 2c), the EOA produced significantly greater electrical activity than all other muscles (p < .001). In the Low plank pose ( Fig. 2d), the EOA produced significantly higher activity level than RAU, RAL and GM (p < .001)." (Source: Meng Ni et al, "Core muscle function during specific yoga poses," Complementary Therapies in Medicine, February 2014)

We have selected papers that give us an insight into the health benefits of yoga, reflecting the growing evidence-based research into this practice. It seems apparent that yoga may provide broad ranging healthcare benefits for mind and body. It may be practiced to maintain health, reduce particular symptoms, commonly associated with skeletal pain, and assisting in pain relief and enhancing emotional wellbeing.

In her review, Dr. Tiffany Field, Director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami, provides a fascinating overview of the effect of yoga on anxiety and depression, pain, cardiovascular, autoimmune and immune conditions and on pregnancy.

In research looking more closely at the effect of yoga on anxiety, Dr. M. Javnbakht and colleagues from the Psychiatry Department of Islamic Azad University in Iran showed that participating in a two-month yoga class can significantly reduce anxiety in women with anxiety disorders. In their paper published in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, the researchers say this “suggests that yoga can be considered as a complementary therapy or an alternative method for medical therapy in the treatment of anxiety disorders.”

Another study, published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine, examined the effect of yoga on lower back pain. Dr. Padmini Tekur and colleagues from the Division of Yoga & Life Sciences at the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation (SVYASA) in India carried out a seven-day randomized control trial at a holistic health center in Bangalore, India, with 80 patients who have chronic lower back pain. They assigned patients to one of two groups – yoga therapy and physical therapy. Their results showed that practicing yoga is more effective than physical therapy at reducing pain, anxiety and depression, and improving spinal mobility.

Yoga also reduces stress in pregnancy, according to research published in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice. Svetlana Bershadsky and colleagues from the Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine tested the effect of yoga on 51 pregnant women, looking at their levels of the stress hormone cortisol and their mood before and after a yoga session.Their results showed that practicing yoga while pregnant can reduce stress, improve mood and even reduce postpartum depression symptoms.

What’s next for yoga?

Yoga challenges the “mores” of modern day life, providing us with a return to simply being, watching the world around us and an awareness of the impact of this world upon ourselves. In the prevailing Western economic system, should yoga ever become a therapy alleviating many of our illnesses, anxieties or distressing emotions, it will have a fight on its hands to become a dominant therapy. Unlike pharmaceutical medications, yoga cannot be packaged in a box or simply taken mindlessly, nor can it be marketed in huge batches to make enormous profit.

Instead, yoga offers something else: reconnecting with ourselves and learning to see ourselves, and our reactions to the world around us, from a different perspective. It takes emotional and spiritual strength to reflect inwardly and directly address personal conflicts, anxieties, hopes and fears, and understand how we respond to them. It also takes time to learn how these states of mind impact directly on physical wellbeing, and how we can change this.

Research into yoga continues to reveal the health benefits it can have, supporting the case for its use in health care. Through randomized trials, reviews and other studies, we are learning more about the effect yoga can have on different aspects of our physical and mental health. Regular yoga practice can increase our awareness about how our body actually feels, with all its aches and pains, and help us restore balance.

Yoga isn’t as simple as taking a pill, but mounting evidence suggests it’s worth the investment of time and effort. Ultimately, in order to benefit from the positive health effects of yoga, we need to be mindful of the present: this moment, now. In such a non-stop world, that, surely, has to be a good thing.

This article originally appeared on Elsevier.com and was written by Denise Rankin-Box.

Massage Helps Reduce Postpartum Anxiety

One 20-minute session of seated, slow-stroke back massage resulted in a significant decrease in anxiety among new mothers on their first postpartum day, according to recent research.

Study Overview

The study, “The effect of slow-stroke back massage on the anxiety levels of Iranian women on the first postpartum day,” involved 100 primiparous women, or first-time mothers, with normal deliveries. The women, whose average age was 22, were randomly assigned to either the massage group or the control group.

On the first postpartum day, the mothers in the massage group received 20 minutes of slow-stroke back massage. In the control group, one of the researchers stayed with each new mother in a quiet room for a period of 20 minutes.

Massage Technique Used

The massage protocol took place with the subject seated on the edge of the bed in a quiet room, and the practitioner began with hands on the subject’s shoulders and tiny circular movements of the thumbs on the upper neck. This was followed by long, smooth strokes from the base of the skull down the entire spine with alternating hands. Slow strokes down the sides of the neck, over the collarbone and shoulder blades were the next step in the routine.

Then, the practitioner’s thumbs were placed on both sides of the spine and moved down the entire length of the subject’s back several times from shoulders to waist.

Lastly, the practitioner used the palms of both hands to make long, sweeping, continuous strokes down both sides of the subject’s neck, across both shoulders and down the length of the back near the spine.

The main outcome measure for this study was anxiety, which was assessed immediately before and after the 20-minute massage or control session and again the following morning using the state portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). This 20-item questionnaire is “designed to check the status of fear, tension, unrest and anxiety feelings of individuals in the current situation and the moment,” according to the study’s authors.

Effects on Postpartum Anxiety

Results of the research revealed a significant difference in anxiety scores between the massage group and the control group immediately after the massage and also the next morning.

Among the mothers who received slow-stroke back massage, anxiety scores were significantly lower immediately after the massage and the morning after the massage, whereas no such changes were observed among the mothers in the control group.

“The findings demonstrate that slow-stroke back massage is a simple, inexpensive, noninvasive and effective method to reduce the anxiety levels of primiparous women during the first postpartum day,” stated the authors.

This article originally appeared in The Massage Magazine & was written by Fereshteh Jahdi, Maryam Mehrabadi, Forough Mortazavi and Hamid Haghani.

Why Cupping Is All the Rage

Cupping is a Chinese medicine technique that has been used for centuries for many different conditions. Acupuncturists commonly use cupping as an adjunct therapy to acupuncture. For people with needle fears, cupping on its own can offer a great alternative treatment.

Phelps isn’t the only famous person to discover the benefits of cupping. Celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston and Gwyneth Paltrow have been photographed with distinctive cupping marks on their backs and shoulders. What was once a mysterious, almost scary-looking treatment in the West is now hitting the mainstream due to its numerous health benefits.

What is cupping?

To perform cupping, acupuncturists place glass, bamboo, or silicone cups on the skin, creating a vacuum-like seal. There are different techniques for creating this vacuum, including lighting an alcohol-soaked cotton ball inside the cup or attaching suction pumps to the end of the cups.

When the cups are placed on the skin, the superficial muscle layer is drawn up into the cup, which stimulates the circulation of blood, breaks up adhesions, and creates a pathway for toxins to be drawn out of the body through the lymphatic system. Cupping can affect tissues up to four inches deep—impacting blood vessels, fascia, muscles, and scar tissue.

More and more, cupping is showing up in physical therapy and massage offices as well, under a different name—myofascial decompression (MFD). MFD is essentially the same thing as cupping, and it is being used in the Olympic games for pre and post-workout recovery and detoxification.

Cupping decompresses adhesions and scar tissue, relaxes muscles in spasm, decreases trigger-point pain, and decreases tissue changes and inflammation following trauma. Cumulative treatments increase muscle endurance, circulation, and lymphatic drainage. They enhance athletes’ overall ability to recover from workouts and strenuous activity. No wonder Phelps is using it!

Where do the cups go?

Most pictures of cupping show it being done on the back, and that is a common place to receive cupping. However, cupping can be done on any part of the body where there’s enough skin to support the cups. (See below for a list of conditions that cupping can help with.)

There are two types of popular cupping techniques, stationary and gliding cups. Stationary cups are where one or several cups are placed in the treatment zone for 5-10 minutes. Gliding cups are when a topical ointment or liniment is placed on the skin and then the cups are gently moved across the skin, usually along meridians or fascia/muscle planes. I like to use Tiger Balm—not the kind you buy at CVS, the real stuff!—with gliding cups on tight and sore muscles.

What does cupping feel like?

Judging from the marks cupping leaves on the skin, you would think it would be a painful experience. Quite the opposite! Cupping is usually very pleasant, like a unique form of massage.

Cupping is different from massage in that with massage, the tissues are pressed, whereas cupping is the opposite—the tissues are pulled up. Cupping feels like a gentle suction is pulling away tension from tight and painful areas of the body.

Why does cupping leave marks on the skin?

Depending on the amount of suction and the state of the underlying tissues, cupping can leave circular marks on the skin that range from a light yellow to pinkish red to dark purple. From an acupuncture perspective, the darker the marks, the more stagnation of qi and blood in that area. Stagnation leads to pain and dysfunction within tissues, so cupping—like acupuncture—aims to clear the stagnation before it causes problems.

From a Western standpoint, cupping creates more space between the tissue layers to get rid of dead cellular debris and excess fluids and toxins. It also breaks up scar tissue. The marks, then, are caused by this debris being pulled up and deposited under the skin, which is actually the most effective place for the lymphatic system to drain it away.

What are the benefits of cupping?

To recap, here are the benefits of cupping:

Stimulates whole-body relaxation response (parasympathetic response)
Stimulates oxygenation and detoxification of blood while promoting a feeling of lightness and tension relief
Detoxifies metabolic debris in muscle tissue, fascia, and skin
Increases range of motion, breaks up adhesions, and promotes healing in scar tissue and chronic injury sites
Increases lymphatic drainage and promotes circulation

Given these benefits, here are some of the conditions for which cupping can be really helpful:

Tight and stiff muscles
Back pain and sciatica
Piriformis syndrome and IT band pain
Rotator cuff injuries
Plantar fasciitis
Migraines
Respiratory conditions, including asthma and bronchitis
Anxiety, depression, and stress
High blood pressure (by calming the nervous system)
Cellulite

Are there any cautions to be aware of with cupping?

As I mentioned, cupping can leave marks on your skin. It may take a few days to a week to fade completely. This is important to remember if you have a wedding or special event to attend!
Keep the area where you received cupping covered from extreme changes in temperature (for example, a hot sauna or cold air conditioning) immediately after treatment. Cupping opens your pores, making you more susceptible to catching a cold.
Do not receive cupping on the low abdomen or low back if you are pregnant.
Do not receive cupping on areas where you have thin or damaged skin, or if you are taking blood thinners.

This article originally appeared on Acutake & was written by Julia Sanfilippo.

Why We Need Acupuncture

What is 'Acupuncture'?

Acupuncture is a holistic health technique that stems from Traditional Chinese Medicine practices in which trained practitioners stimulate specific points on the body by inserting thin needles into the skin.

Acupuncture, from an Eastern perspective, is all about energy and its flow through your body. If that flow is blocked, the thinking goes, pain or illness results. By gently tapping as many as 20 thin needles into your body at strategic points, acupuncturists try to reestablish the flow. That's a compelling but not necessarily convincing explanation. So Western medicine is working to understand the mechanisms of acupuncture. "There are many details we still don't understand, but essentially, acupuncture seems to stimulate specific muscles and nerves, activating changes that reduce pain and symptoms and promote healing.

There are two types of acupuncture that use light electrical stimulations that flow through the needles, or no needles at all. For example, acupressure is often thought of as simply “acupuncture without the needles” and uses targeted massage-type techniques to stimulate energy in the body by pressing on certain points.

How It works?

An integral part of Chinese Medicine is the concept of Qi (pronounced Chee). Qi is often referred to as energy or life force, but in reality it is much more than this. Qi cannot be measured but without it we could not exist.

Acupuncture points, or “acupoints,” are specific locations on the body that are the focus of acupuncture treatments. TCM explains acupuncture as a technique for “balancing the flow of energy or life force,” and that energy can be reached by stimulating small specific channels on the body.

In traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture is linked to the belief that disease is caused by disruptions to the flow of energy, or qi, in the body.

Acupuncture stimulates points on or under the skin called acupuncture points or acupressure points, releasing this qi. The qi then travels through channels called meridian. if this flow of qi is balanced that means we are fit and healthy.

How acupuncture works may be unclear, but the benefits stick out.

9 Benefits of Acupuncture Treatment

1.Drug-free treatment.
2.Effective in treating Addiction.
3.Reduce Headaches and Migraines.
4.Works Wonders for Women’s Health Issues.
5.Effective Preventative Medicine with Positive Effects.
6.Affordable Medical Therapy.
7.Boosting immune function.
8.Herbs do Benefit body in a good way.
9. One of the Best alternative for pain management

This article originally appeared on Acupuncture Specialist Atlanta & was written by Chen Zhang.