Oka, Takakazu, Tanahashi, Tokusei, Chijiwa, Takeharu et al. · BioPsychoSocial medicine · 2014 · DOI
This study tested whether a gentle form of yoga called isometric yoga could help ME/CFS patients who hadn't improved with standard treatments. Thirty patients who had tried conventional therapies for at least six months were split into two groups: one continued their usual treatment, while the other added twice-weekly yoga sessions plus daily home practice. The yoga group showed significant improvements in fatigue and some also reported pain relief, with minimal side effects.
Many ME/CFS patients do not respond to conventional treatments, leaving them with limited options. This study provides preliminary evidence that isometric yoga may offer a safe, tolerable add-on option for symptom relief in treatment-resistant cases. The finding of pain reduction alongside fatigue improvement is particularly relevant given the overlap between CFS and fibromyalgia.
This small, short-term study does not establish isometric yoga as a definitive cure or primary treatment for ME/CFS, nor does it clarify the underlying mechanism of benefit. The absence of a yoga-only arm (both groups received conventional therapy) prevents isolation of yoga's independent effect, and the two-month timeframe does not address long-term sustainability or durability of improvements.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Oka, Takakazu, Tanahashi, Tokusei, Chijiwa, Takeharu, Lkhagvasuren, Battuvshin, Sudo, Nobuyuki, & Oka, Kae (2014). Isometric yoga improves the fatigue and pain of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome who are resistant to conventional therapy: a randomized, controlled trial.. BioPsychoSocial medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13030-014-0027-8
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-oka-2014-isometric-yoga,
author = {Oka, Takakazu and Tanahashi, Tokusei and Chijiwa, Takeharu and Lkhagvasuren, Battuvshin and Sudo, Nobuyuki and Oka, Kae},
title = {Isometric yoga improves the fatigue and pain of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome who are resistant to conventional therapy: a randomized, controlled trial.},
journal = {BioPsychoSocial medicine},
year = {2014},
doi = {10.1186/s13030-014-0027-8},
note = {PubMed: 25525457},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/oka-2014-isometric-yoga},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/oka-2014-isometric-yoga
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