Guidelines for Developing Yoga Interventions for Randomized Trials

Table 2

(a) Dosing of yoga: summary of studies from the Western World*

West [USA, Europe, Australia, Brazil, and Turkey]
	Back pain	Other pain	CVD	Cancer
Durations (weeks)
𝑁	9	6	5	8
Range	6–24 weeks	4–8 weeks	8–20 weeks	1–12 weeks
Median	12 weeks	7 weeks	9 weeks	7.5 weeks
Mode	12 weeks	8 weeks	8 weeks	none
Classes/week
𝑁	9	6	5	8
Range	1-2 classes/week	only 1 class-2/wk	1–3 classes/week	1–7 classes/week
Median	1 class/week	2 class/week	2 class/week	1 class/week
Mode	1 class/week	2 class/week	2 class/week	1 class/week
Length of single class (min.)
𝑁	9	6	5	7
Range	60–90 minutes	50–120 minutes	50–70 minutes	45–120 minutes
Median	75 minutes	60–90 minutes	60 minutes	75 minutes
Mode	75 minutes	90 minutes	60 minutes	90 minutes
Total hours of classes
𝑁	9	6	5	7
Range	12–72 hours	1–18 hours	8–26 hours	7–24 hours
Median	15 hours	16 hours	19 hours	16 hours
Mode	15 hours	18 hours	none	none
Home practice (any recommended)
𝑁	9	6	5	8
%Yes	100%	67%	60%	50%

*Further details are provided in Table 4(a).

(b) Dosing of yoga: summary of studies from Asia*

Asia [India, Thailand]
	Back pain	Other pain	CVD	Cancer
Durations (weeks)
𝑁	1	2	8	3
Range	1 week	8, 12 weeks	3–52 weeks	6 weeks
Median	1 week	na**	8 weeks	6 weeks
Mode	1 week	na	3 weeks	6 weeks
Classes/week
𝑁	1	2	5	2
Range	7 classes	5 classes	3–7 classes	3, 7 classes
Median	na	5 classes	4 classes	na
Mode	na	5 classes	3 classes	na
Length of single class (min.)
𝑁	1	2	6	4
Range	Retreat, 9 hrs/day	60 minutes	30–63 minutes	60–90 minutes
Median	na	60 minutes	30 minutes	60 minutes
Mode	na	60 minutes	30 minutes	60 minutes
Total hours of classes
𝑁	1	2	4	2
Range	56 hours	40, 60 hours	10.5–80 hours	18+, 25 hours
Median	na	na	13.5 hours	na
Mode	na	na	na	na
Home practice (any recommended)
𝑁	1	2	8	4
%Yes	0%	50%	25%	75%

*Further details are provided in Table 4(b).
**Not applicable.