Yoga positiviely affects Musculoskeletal Health/Development.

[Bravera]

Compiled Research on Yoga

Goal: Develop an understanding of how yoga positiviely affects Musculoskeletal Health/Development.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22592178/

24 sessions in 8 weeks
Each yoga training session consisted of 90-minute standardized supervised postures performed in a heated and humidified studio.

Isometric deadlift strength, handgrip strength, lower back/hamstring and shoulder flexibility, resting heart rate and blood pressure, maximal oxygen consumption (treadmill), and lean and fat mass (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry) were measured before and after training. Yoga subjects exhibited increased deadlift strength, substantially increased lower back/hamstring flexibility, increased shoulder flexibility, and modestly decreased body fat compared with control group. There were no changes in handgrip strength, cardiovascular measures, or maximal aerobic fitness. In summary, this short-term yoga training protocol produced beneficial changes in musculoskeletal fitness that were specific to the training stimulus.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32955841/

The 6-month HYG program involved a progressive series of Vinyasa Flow poses performed 3 times/week for 60 minutes.

The CG participants did not undergo any physical training or education. Health-related fitness parameters included measures of pre- and post-training: body composition, muscular strength and maximal voluntary isometric torques of elbow flexors and knee extensors, cardio-respiratory fitness, lower back and hamstring flexibility and a static-dynamic balance.

Results: Two-way mixed design ANOVA revealed significant main effects for all the indicators of H-RF. Tukey post-hoc tests confirmed that the HYG demonstrated significant improvements in every variable tested. Examples of the benefits achieved include (all P<.001): an average loss of 1.03 kg and a 4.82% decrease in body fat, 14.6% and 13.1% gains in isometric strength of the knee extensors and elbow flexors respectively, an increase in relative VO<inf>2max</inf> of 6.1% (33.12±5.30 to 35.14±4.82 mL/kg/min), a 4-cm or 10.4% increase in their MSAR, and an average improved Balance Index of 5.6 mm/s. Reversely, the CG showed non-significant changes in H-RF variables (all P>0.05; percent range from -1.4% to 1.1%).

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29202204/

8-week yoga programme

At 6 months, electronic staff records showed that yoga participants(39 people) missed a total of 2 working days due to musculoskeletal conditions compared with 43 days for usual care participants(30 people).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6935718/

were currently or previously enlisted in a branch of the United States Armed Forces (or taught yoga specifically to groups of active duty military or veterans); and 3) have taken (or taught) 5 or more yoga classes in the last 2 months.


Many of the participants’ personal stories included examples of how practicing yoga seemed to reduce pain intensity/frequency for conditions such as arthritis, lower back pain, migraines, and headaches. Statements on reduction of pain also frequently correlated with additional comments on achieving a calmer mental state, of which both instructors and students insisted was helpful in falling asleep and staying asleep for longer durations of time through the night.

Improved physical functioning with respect to muscular strength, body flexibility and balance/coordination were repeatedly cited as positive outcomes among students.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29131728/

Response Times (RTs) in the yoga group were significantly faster than controls (p < 0.05) and there was also a trend towards greater accuracy for the Yoga group (p = 0.073).

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31126545/

Our review shows that yoga has a positive effect on learning rate, speed and accuracy of a motor task by increasing attention and decreasing stress through a better control of sensorimotor rhythms. Yoga also seems to improve sensory awareness and interoception, regulate autonomic input, increase parasympathetic activity and promote self-regulation. Yoga was also shown to reduce the threat signal, increase pain tolerance, decrease pain unpleasantness and decrease the anxiety and distress associated with pain. Those changes are associated with the recruitment of specific brain areas such as the insula, the amygdala and the hippocampus.