Effects of treating persons with chronic low back pain with a yoga program versus a core strengthening program

Abstract

Chronic low back pain (cLBP) is a complex pathology that may have a significant impact on daily function and quality of life. No clear treatment protocol appears to be significantly better than any other. Two of these protocols are yoga and core strengthening. Currently, there is not a significant amount of research to learn the effectiveness of these two protocols. The purpose is to add to current literature whether a traditional yoga program is more effective than a core strengthening program in changing individual's reported cLBP and level of function. Twenty- one participants were divided into yoga (11) and core strengthening (10) groups using a random number generator. Prior to participating in the programs, participants completed the Modified Oswestry Disability Scale (ODS) and the Brief Pain Index (BPI). These were also completed at the end of 8 weeks. Participants were instructed to fill out compliance calendars. Eight out of 11 yoga participants and 5 out of 10 core strengthening participants completed their compliance calendars. Eight yoga participants completed the posttest while only 2 core strengthening participants completed the posttest. Had data analysis been completed as planned, we expected to see significant improvements in ODS and BPI scores in the yoga group, but not in the core strengthening group. This study was unable to compare the ODS Scale and BPI scores for the two groups due to the lack of data from the core strengthening group. This is the study's main limitation. More research will need to be done to make any judgements when comparing yoga and core strengthening programs for people with chronic low back pain.