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Development of a recumbent isometric yoga program for patients with severe CFS/ME: A pilot study

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AndyPR

Senior Member
Messages
2,516
Location
Guiding the lifeboats to safer waters.
Not a recommendation by me. It's published in BioPsychoSocial Medicine - The official journal of the Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Medicine, which says enough really.

Abstract
Background
Our previous randomized controlled trial demonstrated that isometric yoga in a sitting position reduces fatigue in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME). However, some patients experience difficulties sitting or practicing isometric yoga in a sitting position for long periods. To date, therapeutic interventions for patients with severe symptoms have not been established. Therefore, we developed a recumbent isometric yoga program, which takes approximately 20 min to complete, designed to reduce fatigue in patients with severe CFS/ME. The aim of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility, safety, and usefulness of this program.

Methods
This pilot study included 12 adult patients with CFS/ME. Six patients were reluctant to practice isometric yoga in a sitting position because of the severity of their fatigue (group 1). The remaining six patients had previously practiced isometric yoga in a sitting position (group 2). For 3 months, the patients of both groups practiced recumbent isometric yoga every 2 to 4 weeks with a yoga instructor and at home on other days if they could. The short-term effects of isometric yoga on fatigue were assessed using the Profile of Mood Status (POMS) questionnaire immediately before and after their final session with the yoga instructor. The long-term effects of isometric yoga on fatigue were assessed using the Chalder Fatigue Scale (FS) questionnaire before and after the intervention period. Adverse events, satisfaction with the program, and preference of yoga position (sitting or recumbent) were also recorded.

Results
All subjects completed the intervention. In both groups, the POMS fatigue score was significantly decreased after practicing the 20-min yoga program and the Chalder FS score was decreased significantly after the 3-month intervention period. There were no serious adverse events. All subjects in group 2 preferred the recumbent isometric yoga program over a sitting yoga program.

Conclusions
This study suggests that recumbent isometric yoga is a feasible and acceptable treatment for patients with CFS/ME, even for patients who experience difficulty practicing isometric yoga in the sitting position.
Click to expand...
Full paper available at http://bpsmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13030-017-0090-z
 
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NL93

Senior Member
Messages
155
Location
The Netherlands
Hahaha! Yoga! A "feasible and acceptable treatment for patients with ME/cfs". A TREATMENT!
These people are seriously nuts and will look like complete fools once we have an objective diagnostic that will show yoga is not treating anything or even makes the disease worse if patients (this study is about the severely ill!) overexert themselves.
 
trishrhymes

trishrhymes

Senior Member
Messages
2,158
i have been wondering about developing for myself a simple program of recumbent isometric exercises to try particularly to strengthen my legs since a recent fall when i fractured my shoulder. my plan is to do the exercises in 1 to 2 minute sessions building gradually up to several times a day, using heart rate to help keep me below PEM threshold.

i think asking seriously effected ME sufferers to do 20 minute sessions is mad - it would certainly set off PEM for me, even if done lying down, unless they include a lot of rest breaks.

any study that uses the Chalder scale is rubbish in my opinion, since the whole premise and design of the scale is completely flawed.
 
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Hajnalka

Senior Member
Messages
910
Location
Germany
Haha, yoga "intervention"!

I agree, they don't seem to know what "severe CFS/ME" looks like. They met at a clinic, the yoga instructors didn't even make home visits. Doubt that a severely affected patient could come to a clinic at all every 2-4 weeks and on top of that do yoga for 20-30 minutes (info from long version).

Had a routine of light yoga for years and it didn't prevent me from deteriorating and becoming (mostly) bed-bound. Would love to be able to start the day with a "sun salute" again. Here's hoping for a bio-medical "intervention"! :)
 
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sdmcvicar

Messages
58
The goal is worthy: development of an excercise program which CFS/ME patients can do to generate some of the benefits of exercise and minimize deconditioning without aggravating symptoms. Are they there yet? Probably not. It was worth trying and reporting the results, though.

With regards to the "severe" classification, I'd take it with a grain of salt since to the best of my knowledge there's no official definition of severe. Also, this is coming out of Japan, meaning it has likely been through a translator and their terminology may be subtly different. To some of us severe means only the population group that is bedbound. For others, it means those who can't reliably perform daily activities of living, which is a much larger group of PWME.

I think this was a sensible approach to minimize POTS, impact and anaerobic activity in a workout while focusing on strengthening the body. The conclusion overreaches a bit, but that is quite common in most published research. I'd be interested in seeing a follow-on to this with an expanded trial with appropriate controls.
 
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