OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review was to systematically assess and meta-analyze the effectiveness of yoga in relieving chronic neck pain. METHODS: PubMed/Medline the Cochrane Library, Scopus, and IndMED were screened through January 2017 for randomized controlled trials assessing neck pain intensity and/or neck pain-related disability in chronic neck pain patients. Secondary outcome measures included quality of life, mood, and safety. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane tool. RESULTS: Three studies on 188 patients with chronic non-specific neck pain comparing yoga to usual care were included. Two studies had overall low risk of bias; and one had high or unclear risk of bias for several domains. Evidence for short-term effects was found for neck pain intensity (standardized mean difference (SMD) -1.28; 95% confidence interval (CI) -1.18 to -0.75; p < 0.001), neck pain-related disability (SMD -0.97; 95% CI -1.44 to -0.50; p < 0.001), quality of life (SMD 0.57; 95% CI 0.17 to 0.197; p = 0.005), and mood (SMD -1.02; 95% CI -1.38 to -0.65; p < 0.001). Effects were robust against potential methodological bias and did not differ between different intervention subgroups. In the two studies that included safety data, no serious adverse events occurred. CONCLUSION: Yoga has short-term effects on chronic neck pain, its related disability, quality of life, and mood suggesting that yoga might be a good treatment option.

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