Evidence for your Practice: Yoga improves occupational performance, depression, and daily activities for people with chronic pain

Photo by Erik Brolin on Unsplash

Article: Schmid, A. A., Van Puymbroeck, M., Fruhauf, C. A., Bair, M. J., & Portz, J. D. (2019). Yoga improves occupational performance, depression, and daily activities for people with chronic pain. Work, 63(2), 181-189.

Study Aim: To determine the impact of an 8 week yoga program on occupational performance and depression for people with chronic pain, as compared to usual care.

Intervention: Hour long yoga sessions 2x/week for 8 weeks. Sessions were standardized and progressive included physical postures, breath work (to connect the movement to the breath), mantras, and meditation/relaxation taught by an occupational therapist or a physical therapist. 

Key Findings: 

• Significant improvements in COPM performance and COPM satisfaction scores were observed for individuals randomized to the yoga group
• Frenchay Activities Index (FAI) scores improved, indicating increased activity or engagement in daily occupation during the 8-week intervention.
• A significant decrease in depression scores was observed for the intervention group 

Bottom Line for OT: While stronger evidence is still needed, results from this study indicate that 8-weeks of group yoga sessions contributed to improvements in multiple occupation-based outcomes in people living with chronic pain. Occupational therapists can consider yoga as an important part of chronic pain management.

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