Background: Yoga is practiced in ancient India for more than 5,000 years. The description of yoga is seen in Hindu textbooks as old as Vedas and Upanishads. Yoga is defined as the union of one with many. It is also described as the union of athma, the consciousness in one, with paramathma, the super consciousness or super soul. Yoga is becoming increasingly popular in the western world.
Objectives: We present a case study on a 15 year old Hispanic female with RF positive, CCP positive Poly articular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. We also performed a PubMed search for the past 20 years. The purpose of this review is to identify the heterogeneity of its practice.
Methods: We evaluated the impact of Ashtanga Yoga with pranayama intervention over 6 month in this patient. We investigated the usefulness of Yoga in stiffness and pain, independence, health related quality of life and disease activity. Patient participated in weekly Yoga session and daily practice for 15- 20 minutes. She completed questionnaires assessing psychosocial functioning and disease activity, daily pain scale and pre- and post-intervention at six month follow-up.
Results: The outcomes were evaluated using quasi-experimental single-case design structure. Her case showed yoga reduced pain and stiffness intensity and duration of morning stiffness. Disease activity and psychosocial outcome measures also suggested improvements. This anecdotal report indicated acceptability of Yoga and improvements in pain and stiffness due to yoga intervention.
Conclusion: Yoga can be used as a complementary practice along with conventional treatment for JIA. The use of yoga is increasing in western world compared to the early 1990s. Yoga is used mainly in the chronic pain conditions and also in stress related conditions associated with JIA. However, there was significant heterogeneity in the study designs, interventions and type of the yoga practice and research methods.