Highlights
- •Neither yoga nor eurythmy were superior to standard physiotherapy.
- •All interventions relieve chronic low back pain to a comparable extent.
- •Further research on the additional clinical benefit to usual care is warranted.
- •All interventions were safe.
Abstract
We aimed to evaluate the effects of yoga and eurythmy therapy compared to conventional
physiotherapy exercises in patients with chronic low back pain. In a three-armed,
multicentre, randomized controlled trial, patients with chronic low back pain were
treated for 8 weeks in group sessions (75 minutes once per week). Primary outcome
was patients’ physical disability (measured by RMDQ) from baseline to week 8. Secondary
outcome variables were pain intensity and pain-related bothersomeness (VAS), health-related
quality of life (SF-12) and life satisfaction (BMLSS). Outcomes were assessed at baseline,
after the intervention at 8 weeks and at a 16-week follow up. Data of 274 participants
were used for statistical analyses. There were no significant differences between
the three groups for the primary and all secondary outcomes. In all groups, RMDQ decreased
comparably at 8 weeks, but did not reach clinical meaningfulness. Pain intensity and
pain-related bothersomeness decreased, while quality of life increased in all 3 groups.
In explorative general linear models for the SF-12’s mental health component participants
in the eurythmy arm benefitted significantly more compared to physiotherapy and yoga.
Furthermore, within-group analyses showed improvements of SF-12 mental score for yoga
and eurythmy therapy only. All interventions were safe.
Clinical Trials Register: DRKS-ID: DRKS00004651
Perspective: This article presents the results of a multicentre three-armed randomized controlled
trial on the clinical effects of three 8-week programs in patients with chronic low
back pain. Compared to the ‘gold standard’ of conventional physiotherapeutic exercises,
eurythmy therapy and yoga therapy lead to comparable symptomatic improvements in patients
with chronic low back pain. However, the within-group effect sizes were small to moderate
and did not reach clinical meaningfulness on patients’ physical disability (RMDQ).
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 20, 2021
Accepted:
March 29,
2021
Received in revised form:
March 19,
2021
Received:
November 28,
2020
Footnotes
Software AG Foundation, Mahle Foundation, Damus-Donata e.V., and Christophorus Foundation supported the study. MK received financial support from the Humanus Institute. The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
The authors do not have any conflict of interest with the content of the manuscript.
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© 2021 by United States Association for the Study of Pain, Inc.
