Impact of Yoga on Non-Specific Low Back Pain: A Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53573/rhimrj.2025.v12n6SI.012Keywords:
low back pain, yoga, Nonspecific low back pain, Lower back painAbstract
Back pain is a common condition among people nowadays. Once in a lifetime, everyone goes through this phase. Things became more critical when the pain was non specific. Because the pathology for the same is still unknown. That’s why NSLBP doesn’t have any exact treatment, but yoga as an intervention seems to make a difference and seems to be beneficial. This study aims to investigate whether or not yoga is an effective way to reduce back pain or show any improvement in the condition of people suffering from Non-specific Low Back Pain. Yoga effects on physiological, behavioral, and psychological factors of the spine. Another benefit is improving flexibility, strength, relaxation, and body awareness. There is evidence to suggest that yoga reduces oxidative stress and tissue inflammation. It increases the release of certain neurotransmitters in the brain that decrease anxiety and increase pain tolerance. Our study aims to assess the effect of various yoga practices, such as Hatha Yoga and Kundalini Yoga, on NSLBP patients. We aim to identify the specific benefits of yoga in reducing pain, stress levels, depression, and improving the functionality of the body. Our findings indicate that Yoga seems to reduce stress and depression among people and also shows a positive outcome in reducing back pain. But adherence can make things better. Regular Yoga practices for a long duration of time may bring a big change.
References
Aboagye, E., Karlsson, M. L., Hagberg, J., & Jensen, I. (2015). Cost-effectiveness of early interventions for non-specific low back pain: a randomized controlled study investigating medical yoga, exercise therapy, and self-care advice. Journal of rehabilitation medicine, 47(2), 167–173. https://doi.org/10.2340/16501977-1910
Acute, C., & Van De Beek, D. (2003). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Cochrane Library. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858
Agur, A.M.R.; Dalley, A.F. (2009). Grant’s Atlas of Anatomy, 12th ed.; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins:Pennsylvania, PA, USA; p. 841.
Albazli, K., Alotaibi, M., &Almoallim, H. (2021). Low back pain. In Springer eBooks (pp. 127–138). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8323-0_6
Bagcier, F., & Batibay, S. (2020). The Effects of Virtual Reality-based Wii Fit Yoga on Pain, Functionality and Trigger Points in Non-specific Chronic Low Back Pain Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Bosphorus Med J, 7(3), 75-81. https://doi.org/10.14744/bmj.2020.92486
Balagué, F., Mannion, A. F., Pellisé, F., &Cedraschi, C. (2012). Non-specific low back pain. Lancet, 379(9814), 482–491. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(11)60610-7
Bogduk, N.; Mercer, S. (2000). Biomechanics of the cervical spine. I: Normal kinematics. Clin.
Biomechanics, 15, 633–648.
Brämberg, E. B., Bergström, G., Jensen, I., Hagberg, J., & Kwak, L. (2017). Effects of yoga, strength training, and advice on back pain: a randomized controlled trial. BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 18(1), 132. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-017-1497-1
Carter, C., Stratton, C., & Mallory, D. (2011). Yoga to treat nonspecific low back pain. Workplace Health & Safety, 59(8), 355–361. https://doi.org/10.3928/08910162-20110718-01
Casiano, V. E., Sarwan, G., Dydyk, A. M., &Varacallo, M. (2023). Back pain. StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538173/
Chang, D. G., Holt, J. A., Sklar, M., & Groessl, E. J. (2016). Yoga as a treatment for chronic low back pain: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of orthopaedics& rheumatology, 3(1), 1–8.
Chenot, J., Greitemann, B., Kladny, B., Petzke, F., Pfingsten, M., & Schorr, S. G. (2017). Non-specific low back pain. DeutschesÄrzteblatt International. https://doi.org/10.3238/arztebl.2017.0883
Chiarotto, A., & Koes, B. W. (2022). Nonspecific low back pain. New England Journal of Medicine/˜the the New England Journal of Medicine, 386(18), 17321740.https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmcp2032396
Chou, R., Fu, R., Carrino, J. A., & Deyo, R. A. (2009). Imaging strategies for low-back pain:
systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet, 373(9662), 463–472. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(09)60172-0
Croft, P., Macfarlane, G. J., Papageorgiou, A. C., Thomas, E., & Silman, A. J. (1998). Outcome of low back pain in general practice: a prospective study. BMJ. British Medical Journal, 316(7141), 1356–1359. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.316.7141.1356
De Almeida, M. O., Saragiotto, B. T., Richards, B., & Maher, C. G. (2018). Primary care management of non‐specific low back pain: key messages from recent clinical guidelines. Medical Journal of Australia, 208(6), 272–275. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja17.01152
Demirel, A. Y. N. U. R., Oz, M. Ü. Z. E. Y. Y. E. N., Ozel, Y. A., Cetin, H. A. T. İ. C. E., & Ulger, O. (2019). Stabilization exercise versus yoga exercise in non-specific low back pain: pain, disability, quality of life, performance: a randomized controlled trial. Complementary therapies in clinical practice, 35, 102-108.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2019.02.004
Frost, B. A., Camarero‐Espinosa, S., & Foster, E. J. (2019). Materials for the spine: Anatomy, problems, and solutions. Materials, 12(2), 253. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12020253
Ganesan, S., Acharya, A., Chauhan, R., & Acharya, S. (2017). Prevalence and risk factors for low back pain in 1,355 young adults: a Cross-Sectional study. Asian Spine Journal, 11(4), 610–617. https://doi.org/10.4184/asj.2017.11.4.610
Haughton, V.M.; Rogers, B.; Meyerand, M.E.; Resnick, D.K. (2002). Measuring the axial rotation of lumbar vertebrae in vivo with MR imaging. Am. J. Neuroradiology,23, 1110–1116
Hoy, D., Brooks, P., Blyth, F., & Buchbinder, R. (2010). The Epidemiology of low back pain. Baillière’s Best Practice and Research in Clinical Rheumatology/BaillièRe’s Best Practice & Research. Clinical Rheumatology, 24(6), 769–781. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.berh.2010.10.002
Koes, B. W., Van Tulder, M. W., & Thomas, S. (2006). Diagnosis and treatment of low back pain. BMJ. British Medical Journal, 332(7555), 1430–1434. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.332.7555.1430
Krismer, M., & Van Tulder, M. W. (2007). Low back pain (non-specific). Baillière’s Best Practice and Research in Clinical Rheumatology/BaillièRe’s Best Practice & Research. Clinical Rheumatology, 21(1), 77–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.berh.2006.08.004
Kurland, D. B., Mureb, M., Liu, A. H., Seidenstein, A. H., Stern, E., & Anderer, E. G. (2022). Yoga as an adjunctive treatment for nonoperative low-back pain. Journal of Neurosurgery. Spine, 36(3), 517–521. https://doi.org/10.3171/2021.6.spine2198
Maher, C. G., Underwood, M., & Buchbinder, R. (2017). Non-specific low back pain. Lancet,
(10070), 736–747. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(16)30970-9
Malik, K., Nelson, A., Chiang, T., Imani, F., & Khademi, S. (2022). The specifics of non-specific low back pain: Re-evaluating the current paradigm to improve patientoutcomes. Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, 12(4). https://doi.org/10.5812/aapm-131499
Nagendra, H. R. (2001). Yoga for back pain. Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation.
Neyaz, O., Sumila, L., Nanda, S., & Wadhwa, S. (2019). Effectiveness of Hatha Yoga Versus Conventional Therapeutic Exercises for Chronic Nonspecific Low-Back Pain. Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.), 25(9), 938–945. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2019.0140
Oliveira, C. B., Maher, C. G., Pinto, R. Z., Traeger, A. C., Lin, C. C., Chenot, J., Van Tulder, M. W., & Koes, B. W. (2018). Clinical practice guidelines for the management of non-specific low back pain in primary care: an updated overview. European Spine Journal, 27(11), 2791–2803. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-018-5673-2
Saleem, Y., Noushad, S., Ahmed, S., & Ansari, B. (2021). Effects of Sphinx Pose (Salamba Bhujangasana) Yoga on chronic low back pain. International Journal of Endorsing Health Science Research, 9(2), 263–269.https://doi.org/10.29052/ijehsr.v9.i2.2021.263-269
Saper, R. B., Lemaster, C. M., Elwy, A. R., Gallop, R., Boah, A. R., Weinberg, J., Sherman, K. J., & Kazis, L. E. (2016). Yoga versus education for Veterans with chronic low back pain: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials, 17, 224. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-016-1321-5
Sassack, B., & Carrier, J. D. (2023). Anatomy, back, lumbar spine. StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557616/
Sens, E., Mothes-Lasch, M., &Lütz, J. (2017). Interdisziplinäres Schmerzassessment imstationären Setting. ˜Der œSchmerz, 31(6), 568–579. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00482-017-0237-7
Shokri, P., Zahmatyar, M., Tafti, M. F., Fathy, M., Tolzali, M. R., Jolfayi, A. G., Nejadghaderi, S. A., Sullman, M. J. M., Kolahi, A., & Safiri, S. (2023). Non‐spinal low back pain: Global epidemiology, trends, and risk factors. Health Science Reports, 6(9). https://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.1533
Singphow, C., Purohit, S., Tekur, P., Bista, S., Panigrahy, S. N., Nagarathna, R., & Nagendra, H. R. (2022). Effect of yoga on stress, anxiety, depression, and spinal mobility in computer users with chronic low back pain. International Journal of Yoga/International Journal of Yoga, 15(2), 114. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijoy.ijoy_9_22
Tan, S.H.; Teo, E.C.; Chua, H.C. (2004). Quantitative three-dimensional anatomy of cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertebrae of Chinese Singaporeans. European Spine Journal, 13, 137–146.
Telles, S., Sharma, S. K., Gupta, R. K., Bhardwaj, A. K., & Balkrishna, A. (2016). Heart rate variability in chronic low back pain patients randomized to yoga or standard care. BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 16(1), 279. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-016-1271-1
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (1999). Vertebral column | Anatomy & Function.
Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/vertebral-column
Troup, J.D.; Hood, C.A.; Chapman, A.E. (1968). Measurements of the sagittal mobility of the lumbar spine and hips. Annals of Physical Medicine,9, 308–321.
Violante, F. S., Mattioli, S., & Bonfiglioli, R. (2015). Low-back pain. In Handbook of clinical neurology (pp. 397–410). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-444-62627-1.00020-2
Wong, A. Y. L., Karppinen, J., &Samartzis, D. (2017). Low back pain in older adults: risk factors, management options and future directions. Scoliosis and Spinal Disorders, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13013-017-0121-3
