Prayer? Check. God’s love? Check. Low BMD? Che…Huh?

I came across this article and just couldn’t resist. I find that the many studies done on prayer attempt gauge its effectiveness, and from what I can see here they have all been coming from the wrong angle (Although, admittedly with great results); do not search for how prayer itself may alter reality, instead look at how the physical process of praying effects the health of the prayer.

Not just any prayer can be chosen, however. The Christian prayer? Pfft. Weak. Only the most debilitated of the elderly will be effected by the clapping of hands. No, we need something bigger and badder. And what, if any, religion out there has a prayer Richard Simmons would approve of?

Islam. That’s right – Islam. In this religion one is expected to pray 5 times a day, but not just any way- here’s the low down on the go down:

As you might infer from the convenient how-to above, praying five times a day could approach on the absurd as one ages. Of course, my interpretation may be merely a reflection of my culture; those in the Muslim regions of the world may have no problems whatsoever performing such movements in old age, but it seems unlikely. But, I digress… The study referenced here is not focusing on the question of an absurdity threshold.

Objective: “In this study, the aim was to search the effects of prayer on knee, hip OA and OP by evaluating joint space width measurements and Kellgren and Lawrence (K&L) scale of knee and hip, bone mineral density (BMD), laboratory parameters and clinical findings.”

While the researchers found no evidence of the effects of prayer (negative or positive) on hip or knee OA (osteoarthritis) and OP (osteoporosis), they were able to glean some useful correlations. Firstly, the prayer may be related with hand OA; patients possessing Heberden’s nodes (bony swellings on the distal interphalangeal joints), Bouchard’s nodes (bony outgrowths or gelatinous cysts on the proximal interphalangeal joints), and carpometacarpal disease were more frequent in worshipers. With respect to to the objective, there was no joint space difference between worshipers and non-worshipers, but, and this is interesting, the BMD (bone mineral density) of the lumbar spine was decreased in the worshiper sample, and females with Bouchard’s and Heberden’s nodes suffered from a decreased BMD of the lumbar spine more than any group.

While prayer has been established in previous studies to have no effect on those who are not aware of their being prayed for, and a negative effect on those who are aware of their being prayed for, the effects of the act of praying show equally interesting results: if you are a devout Muslim, praying five times a day may be detrimental to your health, increasing your chances of broken bones by decreasing BMD levels.

[Check out this follow up research I've blogged on]

(References)

Y?lmaz, S, Kart-Köseoglu, H, Guler, O & Yucel, E, 2008, 'Effect of prayer on osteoarthritis and osteoporosis', Rheumatology International, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 429-436. 10.1007/s00296-007-0466-7