African-Americans with stabilized heart failure can greatly benefit from yoga, according to a study in the April issue of the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.
Researcher Paula Pullen and her team found that yoga improved cardiovascular health, flexibility and quality of life.
“Yoga appears to be an effective, worthwhile pairing to standard medical care,” Pullen said. “Our study is one of the first on this topic and the results merit even more attention to these benefits.”
Patients in the yoga program increased their aerobic capacity in treadmill tests by 22 percent, flexibility also significantly improved, and vascular markers of inflammation decreased and quality-of-life scores increased.
Pullen noted that incidence of heart failure among African-Americans has risen in recent years, giving even more importance to finding post-cardiac interventions for this group.
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/health/2010/03/31/african-american-heart-patients-benefit-from-yoga/Definitely made a difference in my life, and I don't have heart disease...