Yoga can beat back pain -- and that's no stretch

I know plenty of people who won't try yoga because, well, it's yoga -- and they think they'd feel ridiculous doing it.

But if you're battling back pain, do yourself a favor: Open your mind before you open another jar of pills -- because yoga can help beat your pain, and two new studies prove it.

One of those studies even finds that yoga can beat conventional care for back pain -- but let's face it here, that's not saying much. "Conventional care" has been a complete failure that's succeeded only in creating millions of painkiller addicts.

Clearly, it's time to throw "conventional" out the window and try something a little UNconventional -- like yoga, because the study on more than 300 back pain patients in Britain found that 12 weeks of the famous stretching classes led to real reductions in pain and increases in function over standard care.

Those who did yoga were able to walk more quickly, get dressed without needing help and even stand for longer periods of time -- and if you've battled back pain, you know what a big deal that last one is.

All told, the study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that yoga can help get you back on your feet and doing stuff again -- and there's nothing ridiculous about that.

Heck, you might not even have to do actual yoga to get the benefits: In another new study, both yoga classes and regular stretching classes easily beat a control group in which patients were given a 200-page book on pain management and told to read it.

You know how that is -- 20 percent of them later admitted they never even cracked the spine on that thing.

Overall, 50 percent of the patients in the classes felt either much better or completely better -- versus just 20 percent of those who got the book (and I can't help but wonder if that was the same 20 percent that didn't bother to read it).

In other words, the study in the Archives of Internal Medicine shows it doesn't really matter what kind of stretching you pick -- just pick one and stick to it.

It's not ridiculous if it works.

On a mission for your health,
Ed Martin
Editor, House Calls