The Practice of Hatha Yoga for the Treatment of Pain Associated with Endometriosis

Abstract

Yoga practice was associated with a reduction in levels of chronic pelvic pain and an improvement in QoL in women with endometriosis.

Systematic review and meta‐analysis of complementary treatments for women with symptomatic endometriosis

“…Only three studies provided an explanation of how sample size was calculated . This lack of information could be responsible for the limitations of the results obtained by the other five studies.…”

“…Regarding incomplete outcome data, two studies did not describe the loss to follow‐up or its proportion, and were judged as having a high risk of bias . One study did not completely describe the loss of data and was judged to be at uncertain risk of bias .…”

“…Gonçalves et al . compared a control group of women and a group of women undergoing a protocol of Hatha yoga exercises twice a week for 8 weeks.…”

“…The study women were aged between 13 and 50 years (two studies 21,22 did not report participant ages, only the mean value). Some of the patient characteristics required for participation in the studies were regular menstrual cycles 21 ; not exercising or doing yoga 21,23 ; discomforts related to endometriosis (i.e., dyspareunia, dysmenorrhea, or chronic pelvic pain) 12,22 ; surgery to confirm the diagnosis of endometriosis 11,12,[23][24][25][26] ; no prior acupuncture experience 24 ; and candidate for use, current use, or failure to use hormonal therapy. 12,[24][25][26] Two studies were conducted in the USA, 21,24 one in China, 25 one in Germany, 11 one in Sweden, 22 and three in Brazil.…”

“…The treatments proposed in the studies consisted of specific exercise protocols 21,25 ; hiking 22 ; acupuncture at points specific for endometriosis 12 ; needling associated with combustion and auricular electrostimulation at acupuncture points 24 ; acupuncture based on traditional Chinese medicine 11 ; transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)-like acupuncture or self-applied TENS 26 ; and practice of Hatha yoga postures. 23 All studies performed pre-and post-treatment examinations. Two studies performed evaluations (through blood test or pain scale and questionnaires) during the treatment period, 21,24 and four carried out long-term follow-up.…”