Musculoskeletal Effects
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
In a randomized, controlled trial, 42 people suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome either received their current treatment supplemented with a wrist splint or entered a yoga program that focused on structural alignment of the upper body. Relaxation was also part of each session, and sessions were held twice a week for 1 to 1.5 hours for 8 weeks (Garfinkel, Singhal, Katz, Allan, Reshetar & Schumacher, 1998). Yoga was hypothesized as potentially beneficial because the stretching and proper posture may reduce compression in the carpal tunnel as well as increase blood flow and reduce stress and pressure on the nerves in the arms and wrists.
At the end of the trial period, those in the yoga intervention displayed significant improvements in grip strength and reduction of pain. Participants also reported maintaining these improvements over the 4 weeks following cessation of the program. Thus, some symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome were ameliorated by yoga. Though this was intended as a preliminary study, and so is limited by weak controls and small sample size, there is sufficient evidence to warrant further examination of the use of yoga to aid this and other physical problems.
Osteoarthritis
Similarly, the study on osteoarthritis of the hands also found significant improvement of several related measures, including improvement in pain during activity, tenderness, and finger range of motion (Garfinkel, Schumacher, Husain, Levy & Reshetar, 1994). Again, relaxation was involved and proper upper body alignment was emphasized using classical yoga poses. The program consisted of eight 1-hour sessions. In contrast, control patients that had no additional treatment showed no improvement on any measures. This experiment has similar limitations as that for carpal tunnel syndrome, but the potential of yoga exercises as a relatively simple and pain-free treatment is likewise highlighted.
