This 2017 study at Boston Medical Center enrolled 320 patients with chronic low back pain and offered them either a manualized yoga program, physical therapy, or patient education on pain management. As a relatively new treatment for low back pain, the study was designed to show whether yoga was as effective as an established treatment, physical therapy. The authors concluded that a manualized yoga program was noninferior to physical therapy as a treatment for chronic low back pain.
Funding Source: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and National Institutes of Health
Yoga, Physical Therapy, or Education for Chronic Low Back Pain - A Randomized Noninferiority Trial
Report on a study to test whether yoga is an effective intervention for chronic low back pain compared to physical therapy treatments