Rebalance Physical Therapy Offers Medical Therapeutic Yoga to Help Patients
A study on the benefits of yoga evaluated the changes in pain, anxiety, depression, and spinal mobility for patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) on a short term residential Yoga program and compared it to a residential traditional physical exercise program.
The results concluded that, although both groups improved, the seven-day residential yoga program reduced pain, anxiety, and depression as well as improved spinal mobility more effectively than physiotherapy exercises.
Why is this relevant?
The results of the study demonstrate the effectiveness of the residential yoga program over traditional PT. Because of this, Rebalance Physical Therapy has taken the initiative to incorporate a medical therapeutic yoga program into our practice.
What is Medical Therapeutic Yoga?
Medical Therapeutic Yoga (MTY) is the practice of yoga in medicine, rehabilitation, and wellness settings by licensed health care professionals. It uses yoga as a tool for rehabilitation, life style management, and self-care. MTY makes yoga accessible to everyone regardless of dysfunction, diagnosis or disability. It is modified on an individual basis just as traditional physical therapy or medicine would be customized for the individual.
At Rebalance Physical Therapy, MTY is performed by a PT who has been credentialed as a Professional Yoga Therapist. Patients are treated with a combination of breathing and meditation techniques, yoga postures, and specific therapeutic exercise/neuromuscular re-education intervention in order to rehab the specific condition.
With MTY, manual therapies are often performed on the patients while they are in a yoga pose in order to achieve better balance, the range of motion, stability, and function. Yoga poses are modified for those who have physical limitations, such as balance dysfunction and hypermobility. A patient’s intellectual and emotional states also play a role in clinical decision making to optimize the best plan for self-care. MTY is research based and guided by evidence-based physical therapy practice and validated physical therapy treatment.
With the practice of yoga up 300% in the United States over the last 5-10 years, it is important to assist patients and clients with a safe practice that is medically based and recognize that patients are beginning to demand a holistic approach to medical care. MTY is a tool by which to achieve both.
If you would like to better understand the MTY program or discuss this information in greater detail, please contact us at 267-282-1301.
Source:
A comprehensive yoga program improves pain, anxiety, and depression in chronic low back pain patients more than exercise: a RCT.
- Tekura, R. Nagarathnaa, S. Chametchaa, Alex Hankeya, H.R. Nagendra. Complementary Therapies in Medicine (2012) 20, 107—118.
Article written by:
Stephanie Muntzer, MPT, PYT1, CPI, FMSc, SFMA
