National Institutes of Health • National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Spotlight on Modality: Yoga for Health

August 2012

Yoga is a mind and body practice with historical origins in ancient Indian philosophy. Like other meditative movement practices used for health purposes, various styles of yoga typically combine physical postures, breathing techniques, and meditation or relaxation.

Many people who practice yoga do so to maintain their health and well-being, improve physical fitness, relieve stress, and enhance quality of life. In addition, yoga is also used to address specific health conditions, such as back pain, neck pain, arthritis, and anxiety. This issue summarizes the scientific research on effectiveness and safety of yoga for health.

Time to Talk Tips: 5 Things You Should Know About Yoga

Clinical Guidelines

Diagnosis and Treatment of Low-Back Pain (Annals of Internal Medicine) [494KB PDF]
Integrative Oncology in Lung Cancer (Chest) [450KB PDF]
Integrative Oncology: Complementary Therapies and Botanicals (Society for Integrative Oncology) [280KB PDF]
Management of Traumatic Stress Disorder and Acute Stress Reaction (VA/DoD)
Pain Management Task Force Final Report (Office of The Army Surgeon General) [5MB PDF]

Scientific Literature

Systematic Reviews/Reviews/Meta-analysis (PubMed®)
Randomized Controlled Trials (PubMed®)

Research Spotlights

Iyengar Yoga May Improve Fatigue in Breast Cancer Survivors
(12/16/11)
For Low-Back Pain, Yoga More Effective Than Self-Care But Not Stretching
(10/24/11)
Study Asks Adolescents With Inflammatory Bowel Disease About Use of CAM Mind-Body Therapies
(03/01/10)
Long-Term Yoga Practice May Decrease Women's Stress
(02/15/10)
Iyengar Yoga for Chronic Low-Back Pain Shows Promising Results
(09/01/09)
Lifestyle Changes May Affect Cell-Level Processes Related to Disease
(09/16/08)
Prostate Genes Altered by Intensive Diet and Lifestyle Changes
(06/17/08)

Information for Your Patients

NCCAM Clinical Digest is a service of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, NIH, DHHS. NCCAM Clinical Digest, a monthly e-newsletter, offers evidence-based information on CAM, including scientific literature searches, summaries of NCCAM-funded research, fact sheets for patients, and more.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is dedicated to exploring complementary and alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous science, training CAM researchers, and disseminating authoritative information to the public and professionals. For additional information, call NCCAM’s Clearinghouse toll-free at 1-888-644-6226, or visit the NCCAM Web site at nccam.nih.gov. NCCAM is 1 of 27 institutes and centers at the National Institutes of Health, the Federal focal point for medical research in the United States.

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