Jennifer Matthews: Should Eric Small ever need to proof he is making a difference, he could find it in the back row of his 7 am yoga class.
Mary Jean Scheuer: But I'll tell you, as you can see it in the hands. I never could, they'd swell up like little hams and I do the yoga and see my hands? I couldn't do that before.
Jennifer Matthews: 71 year old Mary Jean Scheuer says, her arthritis pain disappeared when she met Eric and started practicing Iyenger yoga, a type of yoga that combines breathing exercises with difficult poses. Dr. Sonia Gaur is not surprised. She practices the same type of yoga and recently put it to the test. 18 chronic pain patients took a 90-minute yoga class three times a week. Four weeks later.
Dr. Sonia Gaur: They managed to decrease their medication and actually improve the quality of life.
Jennifer Matthews: They also reported a decrease in anxiety and medication. It hasn't cured Gerrie Wormser's fibromyalgia, but it's making her pain easier to live with.
Gerrie Wormser: But the pain is still there in the knees, the back. It's still there, but I can manage it.
Jennifer Matthews: Popping a pill maybe easier, but fewer side effects and more permanent results make this tough medicine worth swallowing for some.
Male Speaker: Push down your right heel, right heel, right heel.
Jennifer Matthews: This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.
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