Recruiting

Yoga

Sponsor:

NYU Langone Health

Code:

NCT04270617

Conditions

Chronic Back Pain

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Yoga program

Study Details

Brief summary:

Chronic low back pain is notoriously difficult to treat and is a primary contributor to lost work days and excessive health expenditures, and whose treatment has, in part, contributed to the opioid crisis. Surgery is only an option in a minority of these patients, usually confined to those with structural instability. Yoga is an ancient modality whose benefits are currently being studied.

Conditions

Chronic Back Pain

Study ID

NCT04270617

Start date

Dec 1, 2019

Status verified date

Jun, 2026

Completion date

Jan, 2028

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jan, 2028

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Willingness to and ability to participate in study procedures
  • Chronic back pain (pain above the gluteal cleft of at least 3 months duration)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Indication for surgery (i.e., fracture, infection, scoliosis, spondylolisthesis)
  • Cardiac, pulmonary or other medical comorbidities that preclude participation in yoga practice

Study Design

Enrollment

200 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

no intervention: Control arm

The control arm will involve usual care - 6 weeks of physical therapy, NSAIDs, and epidural steroid injections

experimental: Yoga Arm

The study arm will involve a yoga protocol devised by Eddie Stern - a renowned Ashtanga yoga practitioner, and can include NSAIDs.

Interventions

Yoga program

The intervention will be a 6-week ashtanga yoga program designed by world-renowned yogi Eddie Stern. Eddie Stern is an internationally known Ashtanga yoga teacher, in independent practice not affiliated with NYULH, who has done significant work exploring the physiology and science of yoga. He is not currently engaged in his own research. The yoga protocol for chronic back pain was designed with poses specific to addressing core strength but are gentle enough for patients in pain. The protocol is designed to be directed by a teacher initially but can be done at home and is only 18 minutes in duration.

Primary outcome measure

  • Changes in VAS(visual analog scale) [ Time Frame: Enrollment visit, 6 months after enrollment visit ]
  • Changes in ODI (Oswestry Disability Index) [ Time Frame: Enrollment visit, 6 months after enrollment visit ]
  • Changes in SF-36 (Short Form (36) Health Survey ) [ Time Frame: Enrollment visit, 6 months after enrollment visit ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Erich Anderer, MD

(718) 630-6580erich.anderer@nyulangone.org

Locations

NYULangone

Recruiting

New York, New York, United States, 10003

Contacts

Erich Anderer

(718) 630-6580erich.anderer@nyulangone.org

More Information

Sponsor

NYU Langone Health

Last update posted

Jun 4, 2026

Last verified

Jun, 2026

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by NYU Langone Health on 2026-06-04.