Tracey meets with Dr Loren Fishman at the Open center this week to discuss Yoga for Low Back and Neck Pain. In over two decades of practice, Dr. Loren Fishman has gained an international reputation as a back-pain specialist, a diagnostician and a pioneer in the treatment of many disorders, including piriformis syndrome and rotator cuff tear. He has authored more than 70 academic journal articles and six books.
A past president of the New York Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Dr. Fishman is currently an Assistant Clinical Professor at Columbia Medical School. He has recently published an innovative book about electrodiagnostic testing, published by Springer.
Dr. Fishman studied yoga in India with BKS Iyengar, and uses it in his rehabilitation practice and has written extensively about yoga as an adjunct to medical treatment.
Dr Fishman reports that research has found that people who practiced yoga for 60 minutes each week for six weeks experienced significant improvements in well-being and mood. Clear-mindedness, elation, energy, composure, and confidence topped the list of benefits, according to the study, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health in 2011.
Relief from lower back pain is a common reason that people try yoga. Research funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine found that Iyengar yoga helped to significantly reduce functional disability, pain, and depression in people with chronic back pain. Iyengar is a form of hatha yoga that utilizes props, such as blocks, straps, and benches, to help you perform poses without over-exerting yourself.
KIMA therapists regularly incorporate yoga into their exercise prescription for low back and neck pain. We also have a Yoga certified physical therapist for clients who are interested in going deeper into the yoga experience.