Research has been conducted on the effectiveness of yoga for managing various pain conditions.
Conditions studied include low-back pain, neck pain, headaches, and knee osteoarthritis.
Evidence for yoga's benefits is strongest for low-back pain.
A 2022 review of 21 studies with 2,223 participants found that yoga offers a slight benefit for low-back pain.
Yoga may lead to improvements in physical function and mental quality of life for those with low-back pain.
It's unclear if yoga is significantly different from other types of exercise for low-back pain.
In 2020, a report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality assessed 10 studies involving 1,520 participants and found that yoga improved pain and function for low-back pain.
Yoga's effects were similar to exercise and massage.
A clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians in 2017 recommends using nondrug methods for chronic low-back pain, including yoga.
For neck pain, a 2019 review of 10 studies with 686 participants showed that practicing yoga reduced pain intensity, disability, and improved neck range of motion.
In the case of headaches, a 2020 review of 6 studies with 240 participants found preliminary evidence that yoga reduced headache frequency, duration, and pain intensity, particularly for tension headaches.
For migraine, a 2022 review of 6 studies with 445 participants suggested yoga was associated with reduced pain intensity, headache frequency, and duration.
These results are inconclusive due to small study sizes, variations in yoga therapy, and limited applicability to different populations.
Yoga may be helpful for improving pain, function, and stiffness in people with knee osteoarthritis, according to a 2019 review of 9 studies with 640 participants.
The recommendation is conditional and based on similarities to tai chi, which has stronger supporting evidence.