Complementary Therapies for Crohn’s

“Almost immediately, yoga helped ease my anxiety, which was a side effect of my Crohn’s disease,” says Stauffer, who does hot vinyasa yoga. “I love twists, because they quite literally wring you out, and inversions, partially because they’re just fun and because they reset your entire system.” Yoga is also relaxing and meditative.

Faten Aberra, MD, a gastroenterologist and associate professor of medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, thinks that yoga mostly helps people with Crohn’s cope with stress and improve their well-being. “There have been a few studies in people with ulcerative colitis that show yoga improves well-being and decreases stress and depression,” Dr. Aberra says. “However, more studies are needed, especially in Crohn’s.”