Using yoga to treat disease: an evidence-based review.

Yoga is a centuries-old tradition with origins in ancient India. Blending physical, mental, and spiritual practice, it seeks to bring about a state of harmony between mind and body through concentration, physical practice, and mental discipline. For many practitioners, yoga is seen as a path to spiritual enlightenment. “What is yoga?” (see page 36) provides more information on the background and history of yoga. In America, the reported frequency of yoga practice accounted for the second largest relative increase in the use of complementary and alternative medicine between 1997 and 2002.1 The number of people practicing yoga in the United States today has approximately tripled within the past decade and is currently estimated to be between 15 million and 18 million.2 As yoga practice has become mainstream, curiosity regarding its potential as adjunct therapy for various diseases has also increased. Over the past decade, the number of research studies exploring the clinical utility of yoga has grown exponentially. Unfortunately, so has the number of unfounded claims for the ability of yoga to “cure” potentially life-threatening diseases. As medical professionals, PAs strive to find valid scientific research behind the recommendations we make to our patients, whether this is for a prescription medication, a procedure, or a lifestyle change. What is the current state of research on the ancient practice of yoga, and what are the potential benefits for our patients? We are aware that regular physical exercise can help prevent many chronic conditions and is an important therapeutic intervention for many as well. Does yoga practice offer similar benefits? As we will see, the very nature of yoga can make it awkward to examine in an objective, evidence-based manner. Some yoga practitioners argue that yoga’s holistic and integrated approach to mental, physical, and spiritual health makes it impossible to evaluate within the confines of research science and the randomized, controlled trial (RCT).3 Indeed, many practitioners point to the very lack of reproducible scientific research as evidence that yoga has a holistic effect on the body and mind that may not be easily quantified as a statistical variable in a study.3-5 Scientifically trained PAs may find this holistic approach to health a challenge to