Study results might lead to new yoga position

[Guest guest]

MIKE STOBBE, AP

Published: Monday, June 05, 2006

 

Women going through treatment for breast cancer felt better when

they tried yoga, according to one of the first scientific studies of

its kind.

 

" Our belief is something as simple and brief as a short (yoga)

program would be very useful " at combating side effects from cancer

treatment, said Lorenzo Cohen, a psychologist who led the pilot

study.

 

Yoga incorporates meditation, relaxation, imagery, controlled

breathing, stretching and physical movements. Although the study was

small and preliminary, it's one of the few to try to rigorously

measure the benefits of this form of exercise, Cohen said.

 

Researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre

focused on 61 women who had surgery for breast cancer and now were

getting six weeks of radiation treatment. Thirty women were assigned

to a test group that took twice-a-week yoga classes. The others did

not.

 

At the end of six weeks, study participants filled out detailed

questionnaires grading their ability to lift groceries, walk a mile

and perform other physical activities. They also were asked about

feelings of fatigue, their sense of well-being and other aspects of

their quality of life.

 

Their scores were converted to a scale that ranged from 0 to 100.

The researchers found the yoga group consistently had higher scores

in almost every area. It was most pronounced in physical function -

the yoga group had a mean score of about 82, compared with 69 for

the other group.

 

Participants said they were in better general health, were less

fatigued and had fewer problems with daytime sleepiness. But the

researchers found no differences between the groups in measurements

of depression or anxiety.

 

The researchers drew blood and took saliva samples in an effort to

measure the participants' immune system function and stress levels,

but those results are not finished yet, said Cohen, who presented

the results at a medical conference in Atlanta held by the American

Society of Clinical Oncology.

 

A future study will have one group do stretching and another yoga,

to see if there is a difference in the result, Cohen said.

 

Traditionally, such scientific approaches have been lacking in the

assessment of yoga's medical benefits, said Alan Kristal, an

epidemiology professor at the University of Washington School of

Public Health and Community Medicine.

 

Due in part to increased federal funding for research into

alternative therapies, more rigorous studies have emerged in the

last three or four years that attempt to provide harder proof,

Kristal said.

 

Recent studies have demonstrated the benefits of yoga for cancer

patients and people with carpal tunnel syndrome. Kristal co-authored

a study last year that found middle-aged people who regularly did

yoga lost weight over 10 years while a non-yoga group gained, on

average, more than 13 pounds.

 

Study results might lead to new yoga position

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