Yoga for Chronic Non-Malignant Pain Management: A Review of Clinical Effectiveness, Cost-Effectiveness and Guidelines [Internet].

Excerpt
Chronic pain serves no biological purpose in contrast with acute pain, which warns of disease or injury, and is characterized by significant emotional distress or functional disability.1 Definitions of chronic pain vary across classification systems.1 The World Health Organization defines recurrent or persistent pain as chronic if it lasts longer than three months in duration,2 whereas the American Psychological Association considers pain lasting longer than six months as chronic.3 Chronic pain affects millions of Canadians. The prevalence of chronic pain not associated with cancer (also called non-malignant) among Canadian adults has been estimated between 19% and 29%.1 Treatments for chronic pain tend to be only partially effective, and unrelieved pain costs Canada approximately $43 to $60 billion dollars per year in health care expenditures and lost productivity.4 In Canada, opioids are commonly prescribed to treat chronic non-malignant pain. Alternative strategies are being sought due to the side effects of opioids (e.g., nausea, constipation, respiratory depression), potential for addiction and misuse, and uncertain long-term effectiveness for the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain.5 Complementary and alternative medicine therapies are commonly sought to overcome the limitations of pharmacological treatments.6 Yoga, which consists of physical postures, breathing techniques, relaxation, and meditation, has been proposed as a potential intervention for chronic non-malignant pain in adults as it is thought to target the physical and psychological aspects of pain.6 The objective of this report is to summarize the evidence concerning the clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and guidelines regarding yoga for chronic non-malignant pain in adults.

Copyright © 2019 Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health.

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PMID: 31525007
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