Authors :

Rajani Bala Jasrotia and Arvind Kanchan,

Author Address :

Department of Physiology, SBKS MI & Research Center, Sumandeep Vidyapeeth, Vadodara, Gujarat.

Abstract :

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of airways, characterized by increased responsiveness of trachea-bronchial tree to a multiplicity of stimuli. It is an episodic disease with acute exacerbations interspersed with symptom free period.  Aim of study is to find effects of yoga on pulmonary function tests in asthmatic children. In material and methods, 30 diagnosed cases of asthma of mean age 11.47 ± 1.55 were recruited and then divided into two groups. 15 asthmatics practicing yoga and rest 15 not practicing yoga .They were taught and made to practice yoga for 45 minutes every day for 6 days a week for a period of 3 months under yoga expert supervision. Yoga includes various Asanas and pranayam. The Spirometry testing was done at baseline, 6 and 12 weeks in all subjects. The data was statistically analyzed using paired t-test. The asthmatics children practicing yoga have shown an significant increase in VC, FVC, PEFR after 12 weeks of regular yoga practices & children not practicing yoga also showed increase in VC at 12 weeks. In conclusion, thus improving pulmonary functions, yoga helps asthmatic children to cope up better with vigorous physical activities. Thus, yoga could be an important adjunct to conventional asthma therapy.

Keywords :

Asthma, inflammatory disease, yoga and pulmonary functions