Yoga offers hope inrheumatoid arthritis

A two-month program combining gentle yoga with meditation techniques appeared to alleviate tenderness, pain and stiffness among 42 patients with rheumatoid arthritis in a new study.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a program developed decades ago at the University of Massachusetts to help seriously ill patients deal with pain from such ills as advanced cancer or AIDS. But in recent years, that program has been adapted and offered more widely to those looking for relief from pain and stress stemming from other ailments.

"Mindfulness training involves the cultivation of nonjudgmental attention to unwanted thoughts, feelings and bodily experiences via meditation and may help ameliorate both psychological and physical symptoms of chronic disease," the studys authors write this month in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease caused when the immune system attacks tissue in the joints, especially in the hands and feet, and sometimes causes problems in other parts of the body, such as the eyes, skin, lungs and blood vessels.

John Petrick

Original post:
Yoga, meditation may ease rheumatoid arthritis pain, says study