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Yoga helps older women balance and stand taller 4-10-08
By Anne Harding
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Elderly women showed measurable improvements in
their walking speed and balance after a nine-week yoga program -- and they
gained a centimeter in height, on average, Philadelphia researchers report.
"The only explanation may be that they are standing more upright, not so much
crouching," study chief Dr. Jinsup Song of Temple University told Reuters
Health. Song presented the findings April 4 at the Gait and Clinical Movement
Analysis Society's Annual Meeting.
While past studies have investigated yoga for helping improve balance in elderly
women, Song noted, they have typically used a relatively demanding form of the
practice. In the current study, he and his colleague Marian Garfinkel, a
certified yoga instructor, worked with B.K.S. Iyengar, the originator of Iyengar
Yoga, to develop a program specifically designed for older people. "The poses
were very basic -- how to stand upward, how to bend forward, sideways," said
Song, who admitted he found some of the poses challenging himself.
Song and colleagues enrolled 24 women aged 65 and older into their study. The
women performed an hour-and-a-half yoga session twice a week, gradually building
up the intensity of the exercise.
After the program, the women walked faster, used longer strides, and could stand
for a longer time on one leg. They also felt more confident in their ability to
balance while standing and walking.
While the women had been balancing their weight on the ball of the foot as they
walked before they had yoga training, afterwards their weight was more evenly
distributed across the bottom of their feet as they walked, Song noted, which
could contribute to greater stability.
Song, who is a podiatrist, noted that both strength and flexibility are
important for helping people avoid falls, a leading cause of disability among
older people, especially women. He and his colleagues are planning further
studies to determine if the Iyengar program is an effective fall prevention
strategy.
Comment:
For those of you who are worried that yoga is New Age are bad for you. There
are Christian Yoga groups who play Christian Music and Pray. There are non
religious classes is community centers, schools, YMCA, YWCA, Health Food Stores,
Friends Homes and many other non religious non new age places. This is such a
wonderful strengthening art when practiced without religion. And the benefits of
reduced stress, bone and joint strength, reversing osteoporosis, reducing pain,
release of endorphins and much more are well worth it. I think yoga should be
part of any exercise program, even school!