Somatic and Movement Healing

Effects of Dance Movement Therapy and Dance on Health-Related Psychological Outcomes. A Meta-Analysis Update

Frontiers in Psychology · 2019

This meta-analysis updated earlier reviews by gathering 41 controlled studies published between 2012 and 2018, with 2,374 participants in total. Twenty-one studies tested dance movement therapy, a therapeutic approach led by trained therapists, and 20 tested dance classes or programs. Overall there was a medium effect on psychological health outcomes such as quality of life, depression, anxiety, social skills, thinking skills and motor skills. Dance movement therapy showed a smaller but consistent effect on depression, anxiety, quality of life and social and cognitive skills, while dance programs showed larger but less consistent effects, especially on movement skills. Follow-up data suggested most effects held about 22 weeks later. Limitations: results varied a lot between studies, larger effects came from observer-rated measures that may be biased, and many studies had methodological weaknesses.

Yoga for chronic non-specific low back pain

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · 2022

This Cochrane review assessed yoga for adults with chronic low back pain that has no specific identified cause. It included 21 randomized trials with 2,223 participants, mostly women in their 40s and 50s practicing Iyengar, hatha or viniyoga styles. Compared with no exercise, yoga produced small improvements in back function and pain at three months, smaller than what is usually considered clinically important, along with a small improvement in physical and mental quality of life and possibly a higher chance that people rated their back as improved. Compared with other back-focused exercise, yoga made little or no difference. Yoga was also associated with more adverse events, mainly temporary increases in back pain. A key limitation is that participants could not be blinded, and most outcomes were self-reported.

Meditation and yoga for posttraumatic stress disorder: A meta-analytic review of randomized controlled trials

Clinical Psychology Review · 2017

This meta-analysis pooled 19 randomized controlled trials, covering 1,173 adults, that tested meditation or yoga for posttraumatic stress disorder. The researchers also checked whether results differed by type of practice, population, outcome measure, or control group. In this analysis, meditation and yoga were associated with a small to medium reduction in PTSD symptoms overall. No clear differences appeared between meditation and yoga or across populations, though smaller studies tended to show larger effects. The authors conclude these complementary approaches are promising and warrant further study. An honest limitation: the pattern of larger effects in small studies suggests that some estimates may be inflated, and these practices were studied as complements rather than replacements for established treatment.