Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Johns Hopkins Study Finds Yoga Alleviates Symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Here is news of the benefits of yoga for those with Rheumatoid Arthritis -
On a more positive note, scientists from John Hopkins University in Baltimore have discovered that people with RA can greatly benefit from a program of yoga poses, breathing and relaxation.
And the article concludes with this:
Those who participated in the yoga program had significantly fewer tender and swollen joints than they did before beginning the class. The waiting list group saw no significant changes in their tender and swollen joint counts. “We have previously reported that yoga helps people to feel better, and we wanted to make sure it wasn’t harmful to arthritic joints. So, we were glad to find that there actually seems to be improvement in joint symptoms for RA patients,” said Steffany Haaz, MFA, and recipient of the Arthritis Foundation grant that funded the study. “The next big question is figuring out how and why yoga might be having this effect, since it is such a multi-faceted activity.”