How Yoga Helps with Chronic Pain

Have you resigned yourself to living with chronic pain? No matter what the cause of your symptoms, practicing yoga could ease your aches and pains while improving flexibility.

Do You Have Chronic Pain?

One in five Americans have chronic pain, according to a 2021 chronic pain report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic pain is defined by pain that lingers longer than three months or if your pain lasts longer than expected after an injury, illness, or surgery. Pain doesn't have to be present every day to be considered chronic, but can occur intermittently over a long period.

Chronic pain occurs for many reasons and may be related to:

• Joint Conditions, Like Arthritis
• Strains and Sprains
• Poor Posture
• Obesity
• Cancer
• Endometriosis
• Fibromyalgia
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Gastrointestinal Conditions
• Aging
• Falls and Injuries
• Nerve Damage
• Stress

6 Ways Yoga Can Relieve or Reduce Your Pain

When you're sore and achy, exercise may not seem very appealing. Unlike other types of exercise, yoga doesn't involve vigorous movements, jumping, or running. Yoga's slow, gentle movements are ideal for people who experience chronic pain.

If you're suffering from chronic pain, yoga can help you by:

• Reducing Inflammation. Although helpful in the short term after an illness or injury, chronic inflammation in your body's tissues can cause pain and stiffness. Practicing yoga decreased inflammatory markers in a systematic review published in Biological Research for Nursing in 2018. The most impressive improvements in inflammation were noted in people who practiced yoga frequently.
• Improving Flexibility. You've probably noticed that your muscles feel tighter than normal when you're in pain. Although tight muscles are a natural reaction to pain, muscle tension only increases your symptoms. As you practice yoga, you'll perform slow movements that gently stretch tissues, gradually improving flexibility. Yoga improved flexibility in women ages 40 - 65 in a research study published in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies in 2014. Hamstring and lower back flexibility improved after the women participated in 90-minute Iyengar yoga sessions once a week for six weeks.
• Strengthening Muscles. Muscles support joints, help joints move easily, and keep the bones in joints stable. Weak muscles increase your risk for injury and increase pressure on joints. If you have arthritis in your knee, back, or another joint, pressure worsens pain and stiffness and may result in the bones rubbing together painfully. Yoga helps you build strong muscles and protect your joints.
• Reducing Stress. Wondering when or if your pain will ever end can trigger stress and anxiety. When you're stressed, you may feel pain more acutely or notice an increase in pain due to muscle tension. Increased production of the stress hormone cortisol is linked to inflammation and could be a contributing factor to your pain. According to a research study published in Frontiers in Public Health in 2024, yoga is a highly effective way to manage stress. Deep breathing and meditation, integral aspects of your yoga practice, help calm the mind and reduce stress.
• Decreasing Pain Naturally. Yoga activates hormones that help control pain. Practicing yoga boosts levels of serotonin, dopamine and endorphins. These hormones lower stress and anxiety, improve your mood, and help you feel calm and in control.
• Improving Posture. Poor posture stresses your muscles, soft tissues, and joints and can cause imbalances in your body that trigger chronic pain. Yoga improves your posture by strengthening your muscles, improving balance, and enhancing proprioception. Proprioception is your ability to correctly sense the position of every part of your body. When your proprioception skills are strong, you'll be able to quickly tell if you're slouching or tilting your head and make an immediate correction.

Need help managing your chronic pain? Try yoga! Get in touch with us for information on our popular yoga classes.

Sources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Chronic Pain Among Adults - United States, 2019 - 2021, 4/4/2023

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7215a1.htm

The Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies: The Effects of Selected Asanas in Iyengar Yoga on Flexibility: Pilot Study, 7/2014

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1360859213001903

Frontiers in Public Health: Reduce Stress and Risk of Burnout by Using Yoga Technique, 4/1/2024

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1370399/full

NCBI: Biological Research for Nursing: Impact of Yoga on Inflammation Biomarkers: A Systematic Review, 12/20/2018

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6700894/

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health: Yoga for Pain: What the Science Says, 9/2024

https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/providers/digest/yoga-for-pain-science