하타요가수련이 노인의 만성요통에 미치는 효과

Abstract

ABSTRACT

The Effects of Practicing Hatha Yoga to heal Chronic Back Pain for Seniors

You, Si-young. Advisor: Prof. Park, Jong M.D., Ph.D. Department of Alternative Medicine, Graduate School of Health Science Chosun University

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of practicing Hatha Yoga on the elderly. I have focused on the changes in subjective pain and a feeling of helplessness in their daily lives of elderly people over 65 who are suffering from chronic back pain. We looked at both men and women over 65, who were not working during the period, all of whom had been experiencing back pain over 6 months. All the subjects have never practiced Hatha Yoga or any other specialized and/or systematic workouts at that time. Among them, the men and women over age 65 with chronic back pain were selected as a group and practiced Hatha Yoga three times a week for eight weeks. On the contrary, the rest of the subjects under the same condition did not practice Hatha Yoga. In order to analyze the effects of practicing Hatha Yoga, before practicing it, Visual Analogue Scale(VAS) was used to see degrees of subjective pain of backache. To look at different degrees of the disablities in daily life caused by backaches, the Roldnd-Morris low back pain and disability questionnaire was used. The continuous monitoring was conducted over a 8-month-period, lasting 60 minutes per session. Each session consisted of a variety of activities including breathing method to strengthen the back muscles and overall body strength. At the end of the study, a reevaluation of each study case was performed with the same questionnaire. The result shows there has been a meaningful result in the group of practicing Hatha Yoga compared to the other group whom did not practice any other exercises. Practicing Hatha Yoga can not only relieve back pain but also improve the ability to keep right posture by harmonizing the alignment of body. Consequently, it can make us carry on our daily lives independantly. Especially, for seniors who are in the unusual conditions with both physical and psychological state. In conclusion, the study proves that Hatha Yoga is an effective way for the old over 65 with chronic back pain by acquiring muscular strength and flexibility at the same time.