Research at MediYoga
MediYoga Institutet, founded in Sweden in 1997, is Scandinavia's leading research and educational institute in medical and therapeutic yoga.
Research on yoga has been going on in Sweden since 1998 when MediYoga Institutet participated in the first Swedish yoga study in history under the auspices of Karolinska Institutet, which showed positive effects on non-specific back pain.
2009-2012 Danderyd Hospital conducted one of the largest yoga studies ever. The study, which was a randomised controlled trial, demonstrated that MediYoga had significant positive effects on heart rate, blood pressure, stress levels and a marked increase in quality of life. This study was the basis for Danderyd Hospital being the first hospital in the Nordic countries to offer MediYoga since 2010 as a regular part of cardiac rehabilitation for heart attack patients.
2011 a randomised controlled trial of MediYoga in primary care for stress-related symptoms and diagnoses was published. Patients assigned to the yoga group showed significantly greater improvements in measures of overall stress level, anxiety and overall health status compared to controls. Treatment with medical yoga is effective in reducing levels of stress and anxiety in patients with stress-related symptoms in primary care.
2013 Karolinska Institutet published a randomised controlled trial on MediYoga - Preventing debilitating back pain, showing that MediYoga is the most cost-effective early intervention for back pain. Implications for occupational health and primary care to improve the health and work capacity of individuals with non-specific back pain are to offer MediYoga alternative functional training.
2017 Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge, Sweden, published a randomised controlled trial on the effects of MediYoga in comparison with hydrotherapy training on health-related quality of life and exercise capacity in patients with heart failure. Patients in the yoga group significantly improved their health according to EQ-VAS and disease-specific quality of life. Symptoms of depression were reduced.
2021 Linköping University published a pilot study aiming to describe a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial including a process evaluation and report on a pilot study evaluating method and intervention-related components including feasible safety and efficacy. 10 participants with heart failure aged 41-76 years were randomized to Teleyoga (an intervention of Mediyoga through internet live-streamed group session and app) or to the control group. The pilot study showed promising results in terms of feasibility, safety and acceptability of the intervention. The study forms the basis of the largest study conducted on yoga in Scandinavia, which is planned to be presented in 2023.