Feasibility study of a modified yoga program for chronic pain among elderly adults in assisted and independent living

Context: Yoga improves quality of life in elders >65 years, but studies among elders with chronic pain are limited. Objective: Conduct a feasibility study of gentle yoga among elders in assisted and independent living. Design: Single arm pre/post clinical trial. Subjects: Adults (>65 years of age) with self-identified chronic pain (>3 on a 10-point scale, lasting for >3 months) and no current yoga practice. Intervention: Ten weekly 60-min gentle yoga classes tailored to elderly adults. Outcome measures: At baseline, weeks 5, 10 (end of intervention), and 20 (follow-up), we collected data on feasibility (adherence, retention, safety), pain, anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and physical function. Results: Twenty-six participants enrolled (88% women, 77% white, 58% in assisted living) with average age of 86.6 +/- 4.4 (Mean, STD). Twenty participants completed the intervention, with 90% adhering (completing >6 classes). Nine participants (45% of completers) experienced adverse events, which were non-serious and related to transient musculoskeletal pain. No adverse events resulted in study withdrawal. Participants reported being somewhat likely to recommend yoga to a friend, and quite a bit likely to do yoga again. At the end of the intervention, four of twenty participants reported practicing yoga outside of class. Anxiety signifi-cantly decreased from 5.80 (SE=0.90) to 4.44 (SE=0.74) (p = 0.014), but there were no changes in other measures. Conclusions: Our pilot 10-week yoga study was generally safe for and suitable to assisted and independent living elderly adults. Future studies are needed to examine other effects of yoga in assisted/independent living adults with chronic pain. (c) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.