The Breath project (Project Number: 2022-1-PL01-KA220-HED-000089283) has been Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author or authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Foundation for the Development of the Education System. Neither the European Union nor the entity providing the grant can be held responsible for them.

Effect of 6 months of yoga practice on quality of life among patients with asthma: a randomized control trial

Choose one of the available languages:
Institution
Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Institution Typology
University
Country
India
Description
Intervention design.
G1: usual care for 6 months
G2: usual care + yoga (basic asanas (posture) like bhujangasana (cobra pose), tadasana (tree pose) and gomukhasana (cow face pose) for ten minutes and simple pranayama (breathing exercise), nadi sudhipranayama and bhas-trika pranayama for ten minutes followed by relaxation (OM chanting and shavasana). It was 2-weeks supervised training on yoga followed by a closely monitored continuation of the practices at home for 6 months.
The subjects from both groups were on bronchodilators in the form of inhalers or inhaled corticosteroids depending on the judgment of the treating physician.
People involved.
A total of 250 adult patients with mild to moderate (FEV1 > 60%) bronchial asthma were recruited from the respiratory medicine department and randomly allocated to either :
G1: the yoga (intervention) group (n = 125), 21-60 years
G2: control group (n = 125), 21-60 years
Identified barriers.
Subjects should be excluded if they had severe airflow limitation (FEV1 < 60%), smokers, had a history of co-morbid illness (medical, neurologic and psychiatric, orthopedics), had associated chronic respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis, autoimmune lung diseases.
Transferability: the adult asthma population
Disease
Asthma
Activity level
Low
Activity Typology
Rehabilitation section-based activities, Home-based activities
Motivation Tools
Not available
Innovation
Most of previous studies have use breathing techniques as an intervention for asthma control but none of them have considered the practice of asana (posture) in a yoga context. With this limitation of previous studies in mind, the present study was conducted with an aim to assess the effect of yoga training with the combination of posture and breathing techniques on quality of life in patients with mild to moderate bronchial asthma.

In this study, 6 months of yoga practice combining pranayama (breathing) and asanas (postures) significantly improved the quality of life in patients with asthma. Improvements might be due to the efficiency of yoga practice along with standard medications because yoga has both physical and mental effects.

Evaluation System
Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire at baseline, 3rd month and after the 6 months.

Over all AQOL score significantly (P < 0.001) increased in the yoga group patients compared to control group after 6 months of yoga practice. There was a slight improvement in the AQOL score for control group patients at 3rd month and 6th month but it’s showed statistically insignificant (P > 0.05)

Assessment
Patients in the yoga group may get relief from psychosomatic symptoms (such as anxiety) associated with asthma attacks and symptoms. Yoga practices such as postures, breathing exercises or meditation can modify the autonomic nervous system towards parasympathetic domination and reduce the sympathetic activity in the body. Such intervention can be delivered conveniently and cost-effectively.

References
Malarvizhia M; Maheshkumarb K; Bhavanic M; Hariprasad B. Effect of 6 months of yoga practice on quality of life among patients with asthma: a randomized control trial. Advances in Integrative Medicine 2019 Dec;6(4):163-166
Log in to comment >>