NCT04270617

The Effect of Yoga Practice on Chronic Back Pain

A Prospective, Randomized-controlled Study to Evaluate the Effect of a Standardized Yoga Practice on Chronic Back Pain

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 200 (estimated)
• Sponsor: NYU Langone Health · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Chronic low back pain is notoriously difficult to treat and is a primary contributor to lost work days and excessive health expenditures, and whose treatment has, in part, contributed to the opioid crisis. Surgery is only an option in a minority of these patients, usually confined to those with structural instability. Yoga is an ancient modality whose benefits are currently being studied.

Detailed description

The purpose of this research study is to determine whether a 6 week standardized yoga practice is superior to usual conservative therapies in the treatment of chronic back pain at 6 months. There is enough data that the most recent ACP guidelines have included yoga as a treatment for chronic back pain, but more data needs to be generated regarding the efficacy of this modality in treating the chronic back pain population.

Conditions

• Chronic Back Pain

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Yoga program	The intervention will be a 6-week ashtanga yoga program designed by world-renowned yogi Eddie Stern. Eddie Stern is an internationally known Ashtanga yoga teacher, in independent practice not affiliated with NYULH, who has done significant work exploring the physiology and science of yoga. He is not currently engaged in his own research. The yoga protocol for chronic back pain was designed with poses specific to addressing core strength but are gentle enough for patients in pain. The protocol is designed to be directed by a teacher initially but can be done at home and is only 18 minutes in duration.

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-12-01
• Primary completion: 2026-01-01
• Completion: 2027-01-01
• First posted: 2020-02-17
• Last updated: 2025-07-29

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States