Medical Yoga for Patients With Stress-related Symptoms and Diagnoses

Background An increasing number of patients are suffering from stress-related symptoms and diseases. No scientific studies have examined the effects of Medical yoga on stress-related symptoms in patients in primary care. The purpose of this study was to evaluate Medical yoga treatment in patients with stress-related symptoms and diagnosis in primary health care. Methods A randomized, controlled study was performed at a primary health care centre in Sweden from March to June 2011. Patients were randomly allocated to a control group receiving standard care, or a yoga group treated with Medical yoga for 1 hour, once a week, over a 12-week period in addition to the standard care. A total of 37 men and women, mean age 53±12 years, seeking care for stress-related symptoms at the primary health care centre were included and followed up after the 12-week study period. General stress level (measured using Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)), burnout (Shirom-Melamed Burnout Questionnaire (SMBQ)), anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)), insomnia severity (Insomnia Severity Index (ISI)), pain (visual analogue scale (VAS)) and overall health status (Euro Quality of Life-VAS (EQ-VAS)) were measured before and after 12 weeks.