Lumbar pain is the most common problem experienced by people, which is the documented fact that back pain is the number one cause of disability. About 80% of the population in the United States suffer from back pains at some point and /or stage in life. Britain has more and more people experience backache; it is one of the most frequent visits to the doctor and losing work time. More to the point, back problems cause British employees to be away from work in a cost that is over £3 billion every year.  

 But there is a potentially easy way to prevent this problem: pranayama yoga. Main Research: To day's updated study has helped in identifying the fact that some exercises from ancient Indian practice are actually very beneficial for back issues. Based on the results obtained in our study, it can be concluded that, sickness absence caused by back pain and musculoskeletal disorders can be prevented by introducing yoga programmes that involve stretching, breathing and relaxation techniques. 

 Wellness at work 

 Out there there has been enough evidence showing the following facts, patients who have chronic back pain who exercise yoga are known to have fewer sick days from work compared to those who do not exercise yoga. However, not many studies have been conducted as a follow up to the advantages of adopting workplace programmes, like what has been done here. 

 Using questionnaires that took about 15 minutes to complete, we received responses from 150 employees working in three hospitals of the NHS located in North Wales. In this context the staff was selected and distributed randomly into Yoga group or Education group. The yoga group received a yoga session, for once a week for eight weeks.

Besides this, to enhance the practice the yoga participants were provided DVD and poster for their home exercise. They guided them to do yogas at home for at least ten minutes per day for six months. The education group on the other hand received two manual booklets on how to handle back pain and stresses at the workplace. 

 The yoga programme which was used was Dru Yoga – which focuses on smooth and graceful movements – and included four components. Before beginning the session, there are preliminary exercises to warm up the muscles to which 8 exercises such as shoulder and hip mobilizing stretches are added. Then 4 back care postures were executed to increase the flexibility of the spine and postural awareness among participants. This was done with relaxation techniques to foster a state of well being of the overall physical health of the human body. 

 At the end of the study, eighty weeks, it was established that the participants of yoga had significantly larger improvements in the back pain compared to the education group. At the end of six months, the employee-staff records revealed a musculoskeletal sickness absence of the yoga participants being at least 20 times less than that of the education group sickness absence. Yoga participants also complained of back pain and sought the doctor's attention half as frequently as education participant during the six month study. 

 The most significant progress was registered in the target groups that also performed at-home yoga for at least 60 minutes per week. These were followed by adding at least ten minutes or more a day in home practice which doubles the decrease in back pain and was reported to have an impact on stress management as well. 

Gains in productivity 

 For example in the United States about a quarter of major organizations offer some types of meditation or yoga for their employees and but this concept has not been implemented at the same level of adoption in United Kingdom or even in Europe. For instance Aetna insurance company introduced free yoga classes available to 55000 employees, and concluded once yearly medical cost saves $2000 per head while employees recouped $3000 per year in terms of productivity. It makes social and hence, economic sense to prevent back pain in all circles. That's why Yoga looks not only beneficial for the employers and employees, but also for economy as well. 

 As latest studies keep endorsing the merits of yoga for the nourishing of the health of the human body, the authorities of UK have given the choice of the stretching, strengthening and yoga exercises as the first stage in the treatment of the low back pains. Public Health England also recommends the aspects such as the yoga classes in the workplace. 

 Due to the experience we had during our first implementation with the NHS, the Dru Yoga healthy back programme implemented in the study has been spread out to the Merseyside Police, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Institute of Chartered Accountants, Siemens, Barclays, Santander, and many other private and public institutions. We now hope that many more organisation will embrace the use of yoga to enhance the health of their employees.