The results of this study in Turkey suggest that yoga combined with range of motion exercises improves quality of life in patients receiving hemodialysis.

First, the details.

• 37 patients from the hemodialysis unit participated for 12 weeks.
• They were randomly assigned to modified yoga-based exercise or a control group.
• Yoga-based exercises were done in groups for 30 minutes each day twice a week.
• All patients were given active range of motion exercises to do for 10 minutes at home.
• A visual analog scale (aka Likert scale) was used to record their responses.

And, the results.

• Significant improvements with yoga compared to the control group were seen in pain -37%, fatigue -55%, sleep disturbance -25%, and grip strength +15%.
• There was also significant improvement in laboratory values for urea -29%, creatinine -14%, alkaline phosphatase -15%, cholesterol -15%, red blood cells +11%, and hematocrit count +13%.
• No side-effects were seen.

The bottom line?
The authors concluded: “A simplified yoga-based rehabilitation program is a complementary, safe and effective clinical treatment modality in patients with end-stage renal disease.”

This seems to be the first study to evaluate yoga in kidney dialysis patients.

8/24/07 17:57 JR