title: Effects of yoga interventions on pain and pain-associated disability: a meta-analysis.
abstract: We searched databases for controlled clinical studies, and performed a meta-analysis on the effectiveness of yoga interventions on pain and associated disability. Five randomized studies reported single-blinding and had a higher methodological quality; 7 studies were randomized but not blinded and had moderate quality; and 4 nonrandomized studies had low quality. In 6 studies, yoga was used to treat patients with back pain; in 2 studies to treat rheumatoid arthritis; in 2 studies to treat patients with headache/migraine; and 6 studies enrolled individuals for other indications. All studies reported positive effects in favor of the yoga interventions. With respect to pain, a random effect meta-analysis estimated the overall treatment effect at SMD = -.74 (CI: -.97; -.52, P < .0001), and an overall treatment effect at SMD = -.79 (CI: -1.02; -.56, P < .0001) for pain-related disability. Despite some limitations, there is evidence that yoga may be useful for several pain-associated disorders. Moreover, there are hints that even short-term interventions might be effective. Nevertheless, large-scale further studies have to identify which patients may benefit from the respective interventions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This meta-analysis suggests that yoga is a useful supplementary approach with moderate effect sizes on pain and associated disability.
authors.affiliation: Center for Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Witten/Herdecke, Herdecke, Germany. arndt.buessing@uni-wh.de
authors.forename: Arndt
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Büssing
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ostermann
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lüdtke
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Michalsen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000150:complications / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D015013:Yoga; D055815:Young Adult