Does yoga help arthritis? Virginia seems to think so.
“As I grew older I thought I’d be crippled one day too,” says the 66-year-old yoga teacher. So, a decade ago, when the first signs of osteoarthritis appeared she braced herself for the worst. But the worst never came. Since then, the condition has spread to her wrists, right knee, and left ankle, but it’s hardly slowed her down. She still hikes, bikes, and swims every chance she gets. She jokes about how her doctor shakes his head in disbelief at her flexibility and activity level. “My doctor thinks I deal with the pain incredibly well” she says with a laugh, “but really it’s the yoga.”
Osteoarthritis, the cause of which isn’t entirely understood, affects a staggering number of people. People with osteoarthritis who practice yoga find that it soothes physical and emotional symptoms, says Sharon Kolasinski, a rheumatologist from Philadelphia. “Yoga not only safely exercises the muscles, ligaments, and bones in and around the joints, but also triggers a relaxation response that can help reduce pain and improve functioning.”
Virginia started practicing yoga 20 years ago as a way to meet people and stay in shape. In 2006 she completed a hatha yoga teacher training course. And today, in addition to teaching regular classes, she teaches workshops for people with osteoarthritis. She credits yoga for helping her day to day “I don’t know if I would be mobile right now if it weren’t for yoga,” she says.
Only a few small studies about yoga and osteoarthritis have been done, but what research does exist shows the benefits. Marian Garfinkel, a senior intermediate Iyengar teacher led one of the best-designed studies to date. She recruited seven women with osteoarthritis of the knee, none of whom had practiced yoga before. For 90 minutes, twice a week, she led the group through a sequence she designed to increase their range of motion in the knee. Using props, such as chairs, blankets, blocks, and straps, the women practiced Warrior Pose II, Bound Angle Pose and Staff Pose as well as many other poses.
The results published in 2005 in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, were inspiring. After just eight weeks of yoga, the women reported a 46 percent drop in pain and a massive 39 percent reduction in stiffness. “”Before the study, one of the women was scared of getting on the floor—afraid that if she got down, she’d never get back up.”
