Yoga: Helps to kids fighting with cancer?

As a nurse, Casey Hooke has seen how kids can struggle after cancer treatment. They may have trouble sleeping and keeping their balance, or suffer from fatigue and anxiety.

Now she has a theory about how to help them: yoga.

Starting next year, Hooke will invite 48 children who have finished cancer treatment to take part in a six-week yoga class as part of a research study at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.

"There's a huge body of work about the health benefits of yoga," said Hooke. Last spring, she learned about a study showing that yoga helped adult cancer survivors with sleep and fatigue problems.

"I thought, 'Well, why don't we try that with children?'" she said.

It's well-known, Hooke said, that people who survive childhood cancer tend to have higher rates of fatigue and sleep problems than others, even years after treatment. At the same time, chemotherapy can cause balance problems, she said, because of its effect on nerves.

She thinks that yoga, with its focus on breathing, stretching and meditation, can help all those areas, as well as with an overall "sense of wellness."

Some months ago, Hooke and her colleagues decided to test the water with a small study of "Peaceful Play Yoga." They invited hospitalized children and teenagers to take a single yoga class along with their parents, and they measured their anxiety levels before and after class. The kids showed no difference, but the teenagers and parents had "significant decreases in anxiety," according to the study published earlier this year.

Last month, Hooke won a $40,000 grant to expand the study, thanks to Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, which raises money for research on children's cancer.

Hooke said she's delighted by the award. "I've taken yoga classes, and I think just the health benefits, both physically and mentally, are really great for everyone," she said, "and for our patients." For more information, call 612-813-6972.

By Maura Lerner Source: Star Tribune