Yoga for Persistent Pain

What is persistent pain?

Pain is the sensation we experience after an injury, and we usually expect it to settle as the tissues heal. It can be useful because it is the brain’s way of stopping us from causing further harm-for instance, by preventing us from carrying on running with a sprained ankle. Persistent pain, sometimes referred to as chronic pain, continues beyond the expected healing period. Put simply, pain may still be present even though no tissue damage is taking place.

This happens when the brain becomes overly protective, meaning the pain response is no longer particularly helpful. We might feel that we cannot move or return to exercise, despite it being completely safe for our bodies to do so. Persistent pain can develop when the nervous system becomes confused and interprets signals that would normally be painless as painful. Higher levels of stress, for example, can increase the body’s sensitivity to pain signals. This can be hard to make sense of and often requires support. Sleep, stress, and mental wellbeing are among the factors that can commonly drive or intensify this type of pain.

And what is Yoga?

It may be unsurprising, but yoga involves far more than becoming extremely flexible or standing on your head-although you can do those things too, if you wish! Yoga is a distinctive type of physical activity that brings together movement, mindfulness, and breathing exercises. You may have heard that yoga “connects the mind with the body!” (It sounds slightly strange, doesn’t it? Your mind is part of your body.) Yet there is truth in this: yoga can help people develop greater awareness of their bodies, which is where the idea of a ‘mind-body connection’ comes from.

The combination of yoga postures and deep breathing exercises has been shown to offer a range of physiological and psychological health benefits. These include helping to regulate the nervous system, lower stress, and support improved mental wellbeing.

So how could Yoga help with persistent pain?

As noted above, a number of factors can worsen and/or contribute to persistent pain, including poor sleep, stress, anxiety, low mood, and fear of movement. Yoga may help to improve these psychological factors, and it has been shown to assist in the treatment of persistent pain. Indeed, the American College of Physicians now recommends yoga as a first-line therapy for chronic low back pain.

In addition, a growing body of research shows the positive effects of yoga on pain, quality of life, and function in people with a range of health conditions. These include fibromyalgia (Macfariane et al. 2017), lower back pain (Anheyer et al. 2022), headaches (Carnero et al. 2023; La Touche et al. 2023), neck pain (Gao et al. 2024), and pain linked with arthritis (Lu et al. 2024).

Interested in giving Yoga a go?

PhysioSpace offers both small-group classes, with plenty of individual support and attention, and 1:1 classes. The 1:1 sessions can be tailored specifically around your needs.

By Rhiannon Walters