Note: Please check with your doctor before beginning yoga or any exercise program, especially if your back pain is accompanied by other symptoms like numbness or pain and tingling or weakness in your legs.

Did you know that according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

• Seventy to 85 percent of all people have back pain at some time in their life?


• Back pain is the most frequent cause of activity limitation among people younger than 45 years old?


• More than one million Americans use yoga for back pain, a form of "mind-body" exercise, as treatment?

I am living proof that yoga can improve back pain. I began practicing yoga over ten years ago as a way to help control my chronic low back pain and sciatica. It worked and I am now virtually pain free.

Study Confirms Yoga Helps Back Pain

Studies are beginning to confirm what I personally experienced; yoga works to alleviate back pain. In an article published in the December 20, 2005 Annals of Internal Medicine researchers compared the effectiveness of yoga, traditional exercise (combining aerobic, strengthening, and stretching exercises), and a self-care plan for the treatment of chronic low back pain. Results showed that after 12 weeks, yoga was significantly more effective than traditional exercise or a self-care approach in improving back function.

After six months, patients in the yoga group reported less pain and were less likely to use pain medications than their counterparts. At the final 26-week follow-up, only 21% of yoga participants reported taking pain medication in the past week, compared with half of the patients in the exercise group and 59% of those who received the self-care book. "Yoga may be beneficial for back pain because it involves physical movement, but it may also exert benefits through its effects on mental focus," explained the authors.

Patients in the study learned Viniyoga, a therapeutic style of yoga that is easy to learn and can be adapted for various body types and fitness levels.

If you are interested in trying a DVD expressly for back pain, check out Viniyoga Therapy for the Low Back, Sacrum and Hips by Gary Kraftsow, the renowned yoga therapist who designed the yoga program used in the NIH Study. This is an excellent DVD full of explanations and detailed demonstrations to insure you are doing the poses properly.

If you prefer books you may want to take a look at, Yoga Heals Your Back: 10 Minute Routines that End Back and Neck Pain by Rita Trieger, editor-in chief of Fit and Fit Yoga magazines, who has been practicing yoga and meditation for over 20 years. It’s full of quick routines designed to stretch and strengthen your back that are thoroughly explained and photographed.