(272) An 8 Week Modified Yoga Program for Chronic Pain

Abstract

The utilization of complementary care is on the rise for patients with chronic pain, partly due to the opioid epidemic and recent guidelines stating opioids are ineffective for chronic pain. Physical activity is a primary recommendation for various types of chronic pain. The 2007 National Health Interview Survey found that U.S. adults are choosing yoga as one of the top 10 complementary approaches. Stemming from ancient Indian philosophy, yoga is a mind-body practice that typically combines physical postures, breathing techniques and meditation. Yoga has been shown to have neuroprotective effects on the brain, possibly even reversing the effects of chronic pain. Patients with chronic pain can be hesitant to start yoga due to the public's view of needing to be flexible and fit in order to do yoga. People with chronic pain may also fear exercise due to past experiences that flared their pain. There are many different schools and types of yoga available, making it confusing to choose a class to attend. Therefore, we developed an 8 week “yoga for chronic pain” program to introduce the benefits of yoga and modify the yoga practice for patients with chronic pain. There is a weekly didactic on how yoga can be helpful for various aspects of chronic pain-fatigue, sleep, improved mood. This is followed by a gentle guided posture, breathing and meditation practice. Participants are given a variety of resources, encouraged to start a home practice and log their minutes of practice each week. In 2018, we had two groups of patients complete our 8-week yoga program and we measured their pain interference, sleep, mood, and pain medication usage at the start, end and 3 months following completion of our program. In this poster, we will present our findings (currently under analysis). (Villemure, et al, Cerebral Cortex 2014)