Feasibility and effects of a chair-based yoga program for adults with neurodisability.

Abstract

<b>Purpose:</b> This study focuses on exploring the feasibility and the effects of practicing chair-based yoga for 10 weeks on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and interoceptive body awareness (BA) in adults with neurodisability and moderate to severe physical dependence.<b>Materials and Methods:</b> A pre- and post-testing control group design was followed. Participants were 34 service users at a rehabilitation center. The intervention group (IG, <i>n</i> = 17, 53% men, mean age of 48.6 ± 11.4 years) took part in the 10-week chair-based yoga program. The control group (CG, <i>n</i> = 17, 53% men, mean age of 53.1 ± 11.0 years) received usual care. The outcome measures were feasibility (recruitment rate, attrition, completion rate, adherence, participation, safety and tolerability), HRQoL (WHOQoL-BREF questionnaire), and BA (the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, MAIA). Participants in the IG completed a questionnaire to measure their personal experience of participating in the program.<b>Results and Conclusions:</b> This study provides implications for a 10-week chair-based yoga program as a feasible, well-tolerated, and safe intervention, reinforced by the participants' retrospective judgment. Compared to the CG, the program produced statistically significant improvements over BA, such as subscales of MAIA Noticing (<i>p</i> = .031, Hedges <i>g</i>_s = 0.76), Emotional Awareness (<i>p</i> < .001, Hedges <i>g</i>_s = 1.68), and Trusting (<i>p</i> = .036, Hedges <i>g</i>_s = 0.74), but not HRQoL, for the IG. Chair-based yoga programs could be a rehabilitation strategy in the socio-health care of a varied population with physical mobility impairments leading to wheelchair use.Implications for RehabilitationA 10-week chair-based yoga intervention was shown to be a feasible, well-tolerated, and safe therapy which allowed people of varying abilities to participate equitable.Chair-based yoga can help people with moderate to severe physical dependence due to neurodisability to improve their interoceptive body awareness.Chair-based yoga does not have a significant impact on the health-related quality of life of this sample of participants.