LoveYourBrain Yoga Improves Fatigue and Anxiety Among People with Multiple Sclerosis
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, August 1st, 2022
Contact: Dr. Kyla Pearce, Senior Director of Programs & Research Scientist, LoveYourBrain
Email: kyla@loveyourbrain.com
Norwich, Vermont — The LoveYourBrain Foundation, a Vermont-based national nonprofit, and researchers from the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center’s (DHMC) Neurology Department are proud to announce the results of a new study on the benefits of LoveYourBrain Yoga for multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is a common neurologic disease affecting nearly 1 million people in the United States, and causes a wide range of physical, emotional, cognitive, and psychological symptoms. One of the most common and disabling symptoms is fatigue, which research has shown affects 75%–87% of MS patients.
Although yoga is among the top most popular forms of complementary and alternative medicine used for MS symptom management, yoga services that are safe and specific to the MS community are largely inaccessible. To address this, Dr. Andrew Smith III, the lead Neurologist on the study team, approached Dr. Kyla Pearce, Senior Director of Programs at LoveYourBrain and recent Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Dartmouth, to explore how LoveYourBrain Yoga might be applied to the MS population.
LoveYourBrain Yoga is a free, six-week yoga with psychoeducation program developed by the local, VT-based LoveYouBrain Foundation to increase resilience and community connection among people affected by traumatic brain injury (TBI). LoveYourBrain is the leading organization supporting people affected by TBI through mindfulness, yoga, and education to fulfill its mission to improve quality of life and raise awareness about brain injury. LoveYourBrain was founded in 2014 by Upper Valley natives, Kevin and Adam Pearce, following Kevin’s severe TBI from a snowboarding accident while training for the 2010 Olympics. Since that time, LoveYourBrain Yoga has served over 4,000 people across the United States and Canada, and a series of research studies on LoveYourBran Yoga have found diverse and clinically meaningful improvements in health outcomes for TBI. Given the similarities in symptoms (e.g., fatigue, cognitive impairments, imbalance, anxiety, and depression) between people with TBI and MS, this unprecedented study is a natural collaboration between two organizations committed to improving patient-centered integrative health care.
“This research collaboration is an important example of how the success of LYB programs for the TBI community can also support populations with other neurological conditions in our area and beyond,” said LoveYourBrain’s Board Chair, Pia Pearce. “We look forward to further collaborations with experts in MS to ensure yoga and mindfulness are accessible therapeutic modalities for increasing health and wellbeing.”
This crossover pilot trial compared LoveYourBrain Yoga to a control among 15 people with MS living in the Upper Valley. Significant improvements were found in fatigue, positive affect and wellbeing, and anxiety after LoveYourBrain Yoga compared to the control. The results suggest LoveYourBrain Yoga may improve a range of MS symptoms and offer a means for acquiring new skills for stress reduction, anxiety management, and overall well-being. Participants also reported high satisfaction and over 92% would ‘definitely, yes’ recommend LoveYourBain Yoga to a friend or family.
Given the high costs of medications and the adverse side effects associated with certain drugs for MS, LoveYourBrain Yoga may be an effective symptom management approach for people with this condition. MS disproportionately affects women, and yoga is most commonly practiced by women, so LoveYourBrain Yoga may be preferred over other similarly effective interventions (e.g., exercise) for supporting MS management.
“We’re extremely proud to have been able to work with Dartmouth to leverage our learnings with LoveYourBrain Yoga for TBI over the past 7 years to now focus on a similarly under-resourced neurological community,” shared Dr. Kyla Pearce, Senior Director of LoveYourBrain Programs and recent Post-doctoral Research Fellow at Dartmouth College. “We hope this study will serve as a blueprint for yoga teachers and medical professionals seeking to make yoga services more accessible for people with MS in VT, NH, and beyond.”
About LoveYourBrain:
The LoveYourBrain Foundation is a national non-profit that improves the quality of life of people impacted by traumatic brain injury (TBI) and raises awareness about the importance of brain health. Guided by their family’s experience, brothers Kevin and Adam Pearce established LoveYourBrain in 2014 following Kevin’s severe TBI from a snowboarding accident before the 2010 Olympics. Kevin’s remarkable resilience was transformed into the award-winning HBO Documentary, “The Crash Reel,” which brought to light the challenges and prevalence of TBI. In response, LoveYourBrain developed programs and resources designed to create community and foster resilience for the TBI community. Now, LoveYourBrain’s Yoga, Retreat, and Mindset programs are offered at no cost across the globe to empower the TBI community with new tools, resources, and connections. Visit http://www.loveyourbrain.com to learn more.
About Dartmouth Health:
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and the state’s largest private employer, serves patients across northern New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, as well as across its wide network of hospitals, clinics and care facilities. DHMC is consistently named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, one of only 51 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the only such center in northern New England; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital and multiple locations around the region; member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene and New London, NH, and Windsor, VT; and Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and more than 24 clinics that provide ambulatory and specialty services across New Hampshire and Vermont.