Study finds yoga helpful for breast cancer patients

Good news that something this simple might ease recovery. Interesting to see what else we'll find out as more research is done on yoga and other alternative therapies.

"Researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center focused on 61 women who had surgery for breast cancer and now were getting six weeks of radiation treatment. Thirty women were assigned to a test group that took twice-a-week yoga classes. The others did not.

At the end of six weeks, study participants filled out detailed questionnaires grading their ability to lift groceries, walk a mile and perform other physical activities. They also were asked about feelings of fatigue, their sense of well-being and other aspects of their quality of life.

Their scores were converted to a scale that ranged from 0 to 100. The researchers found the yoga group consistently had higher scores in almost every area. It was most pronounced in physical function -- the yoga group had a mean score of about 82, compared with 69 for the other group."

CNN.com - Study: Yoga helps breast cancer patients - Jun 6, 2006