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Abstract Number: 1087

“It Was Just My Right Pace”: A Qualitative Study Exploring Yoga Practice in Adults with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Heather Greysen, School of Nursing, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

Meeting: 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

Date of first publication: September 29, 2015

Keywords: physical activity, physical function, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and yoga

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Session Information

Date: Sunday, November 8, 2015

Session Title: ACR/ARHP Combined Abstract Session: Rehabilitation

Session Type: ACR/ARHP Combined Abstract Session

Session Time: 4:30PM-6:00PM

Background/Purpose: Physical activity is reported to improve physical function and reduce disease symptoms in adults with rheumatoid arthritis (RA); however adults with RA are less likely to participate in physical activity than adults with other chronic diseases. The dynamic mind-body physical activity of yoga may be an acceptable and beneficial way for RA adults to increase physical activity. However, little is known about how patients with RA are practicing yoga in the community and about the benefits they experience. The objective of this qualitative study was to explore yoga practice characteristics in addition to perceived benefits and facilitators of yoga practice in adults with RA.

Methods: A convenience sample of 17 adults, with rheumatologist-diagnosed RA, who had participated in yoga within the previous year, completed a semi-structured telephone interview. An interview guide was used to explore: the decision to start, continue and stop yoga; perceived benefits of yoga; importance of components of a yoga session; and general thoughts about yoga as it relates to RA. Thematic analysis was used to analyze interview transcripts.

Results: The majority of the 17 participants were white (71%), female (94%), employed full-time (53%), had mean age of 56 years, had an average disease duration of 21 years, and had bachelor’s or graduate degrees (65%). The primary style of yoga practiced was Vinyasa and Restorative/Gentle (47% combined). Four main themes were identified: (1) Facilitators, (2) Barriers, (3) Benefits, and (4) Harms of yoga practice. Facilitators included: socialization, physical fitness, and improving practice. Barriers included: finances and class mismatch. Benefits included: increased coping abilities and improved sleep, flexibility, energy, strength, balance, pain, mood, and physical function. Harms included RA flares and muscle strain injuries. There were many styles of yoga practiced and participants described various ways to adapt or change an existing yoga practice to meet the physical and emotional needs of the practitioner on any particular day. Study participant quotes illustrated how the dynamic exercise of yoga, which can be gentle with breath exercises, meditation, and relaxing stretches or can be a vigorous exercise with fast moving strenuous poses, suited their dynamic needs as a person with fluctuating symptom burden.

Conclusion: In this study RA patients described how yoga practice helped improve physical function and numerous RA disease symptoms. Yoga practice can provide many benefits for adults with RA when it is practiced at the right pace for the individual. Yoga practices vary and yoga may not be beneficial for every adult with RA, in fact it may be harmful if practiced inappropriately. Next steps include further investigating the role of the yoga teacher and the physical yoga practice environment as facilitators and barriers to practice.

Table 1. Main Themes and corresponding yoga participant quotes

Key Theme

SubTheme

Quote

Facilitators

Desire for physical fitness

“… I thought that it would help me stretch out and um, hopefully give me more mobility.”

Being influenced by others

“…the Pain Management Program, they suggested that I get into yoga”

“…my friends said, ‘why don’t you give it a try’”

Increased benefits

“in the beginning, my joint stuff was really bad, it was kind of hard for me to do all the poses, but as I started doing it, I did notice that there were certain poses like the triangle pose, and stuff, that, I hated at one point, but then I was able to do it, so I noticed that my flexibility did improve.”

Barriers

Financial issues

“She recommends that I have it twice a week, but financially I just can’t do that.”

Yoga class mismatches

“I think I would like to try yoga again but it would have to be in a therapeutic environment, meaning, I would need, probably pillows or other things that would help me to do the exercises, you know.”

Benefits

Physical and mental

“it just helps me with my overall mobility, I just feel like I am able to move so much better…I have improvement in all of those things, pain, energy, mood…I really, really like it, I feel it’s so worth it, I do enjoy it very much.”

“Well, it just made me feel better, more flexible, it made me feel, um, more calm, more better inside, stronger….it helps my mood, outlook and energy”

Psychosocial

“It was, the fellowship, the people. You know, you get hear somebody else griping about their toes hurting and their elbow hurtin, and then you know, we all get in there and we start doing our exercises and stuff and then we’re talking about grandkids, you know, catchin crab or salmon and we start talkin about other stuff instead of you know, whatever hurts, so that part of it is a big uplift.”

Pride and achievement

“I was pretty proud of myself for getting through it…when I do certain moves, I can feel pretty good about myself”

A tool to cope

“I think the breathing and the meditation are a big part …it’s just, when you have RA you can get a lot of negative thinking and this really helps with that…yoga is really helpful, like a tool to turn to.”

Harms

RA Flares

“I had to stop doing yoga because of my RA. I needed something more gentle, so I do Qigong now. I actually tried yoga again recently, but it caused a flare, so I said, okay, well, I’ve got to stop doing that.”


Disclosure: H. Greysen, None;

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Greysen H. “It Was Just My Right Pace”: A Qualitative Study Exploring Yoga Practice in Adults with Rheumatoid Arthritis [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2015; 67 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/it-was-just-my-right-pace-a-qualitative-study-exploring-yoga-practice-in-adults-with-rheumatoid-arthritis/. Accessed February 24, 2021.
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