Does yoga or pilates help with pain and ageing?
Yoga and pilates both reduce pain in chronic lower back pain, comparably to or better than conventional rehabilitation. If you are over 60 and want to prevent falls, do not choose Iyengar yoga.
Yoga and pilates both help with long-term lower back pain. Many studies combined, involving more than 5,000 participants, show that yoga has a moderate to large effect on both pain relief and how well you can use your body, compared with standard rehabilitation. Pilates also reduces pain clearly, but scores somewhat lower than yoga or tai chi. When it came to movement and physical functioning, the difference with pilates was not clear. The difference between yoga and pilates is small in any case, and there are hardly any studies that compare the two directly.
In people aged 50 and over with joint pain, such as osteoarthritis or neck pain, there is reasonable evidence that yoga helps. Of the eight studies that measured pain, six found a clear effect. That is comparable to other forms of exercise. Yoga is therefore not a miracle cure for joint pain, but simply a useful option alongside other ways of staying active. Quality of life did not improve clearly in the short term.
There is also an important safety signal. A large controlled study from 2025 involving 700 independently living people aged 60 and over showed that a 12-month Iyengar yoga programme actually increased the number of falls: 0.87 versus 0.64 falls per person per year. The researchers explicitly advise against this programme for fall prevention. Notably, that same programme did improve balance confidence and weekly time spent being active. How someone feels and how safe something is do not always go hand in hand.
For other uses the evidence is thinner. Research into ageing finds positive effects of yoga on balance, bone strength and Parkinson's disease, but yoga did not consistently outperform other forms of exercise in those areas. For menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes, anxiety and sleep problems, yoga is mentioned as an option with some backing, but without hard figures. For migraine there is limited positive evidence. For pain in people with cancer there is insufficient evidence to recommend yoga.
No single form of exercise convincingly beats all others for chronic lower back pain. Tai chi, yoga and pilates perform comparably to, or better than, conventional rehabilitation, but differ little from one another. Simply choose the form that suits your own preference and circumstances.
The strongest backing comes from one combined analysis of 75 controlled studies with approximately 5,254 participants for lower back pain, and one large controlled study on fall risk in older adults with 700 participants. The remaining claims are based on reviews and guidelines of varying quality. Direct comparisons between yoga and pilates are scarce.
Does strength training help with healthy ageing?
Strength training is one of the best-supported interventions for healthy ageing: training two to three times per week with progressive resistance demonstrably improves muscle strength, mobility and independence, even at an advanced age.
Does qigong keep you fit as you get older?
Studies show that qigong helps older people with balance, muscle function, physical ability, and probably also thinking and memory. The evidence is moderately strong, but the effects are consistent enough to take seriously.
What does tai chi do for healthy ageing?
Tai chi demonstrably helps older adults reduce falls and improve balance and walking ability. In mild cognitive decline, a variant that combines movement with mental challenges also shows improvement in mental sharpness.
Can intense exercise actually make you age faster?
Regular, well-paced exercise keeps cells measurably younger, as seen in longer telomeres and less DNA damage. How you structure your training determines whether you reap that benefit.
Does balance training help prevent falls in later life?
Supervised balance and resistance training or group tai chi lasting at least three months are the best choice if you want to prevent falls. Exercising several times per week and sticking with it for a long time makes the difference.
Does paracetamol help with muscle soreness?
Paracetamol probably does not relieve exercise-induced muscle soreness any better than a placebo, and there are indications that it suppresses recovery substances in your muscles. Do not take it routinely after a workout, and consult your doctor or physiotherapist if in doubt.