Effects of yogic intervention on pain scores and quality of life in females with chronic pelvic pain.

CONTEXT

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is a common condition of women of the reproductive age group. It has a negative impact on a woman's personal health and quality of life (QOL). Practicing yoga has shown numerous benefits in various chronic painful conditions.

AIM

To study the effects of yogic intervention on pain scores and quality of life in females of reproductive age group with CPP, on conventional therapy.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

It is a follow-up, randomized case-control study done in a tertiary care hospital.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Sixty female patients of CPP in the age group of 18-45 years were randomly divided into Group I ( = 30) and Group II ( = 30). Group I received only conventional therapy in the form of NSAIDS and Group II received yoga therapy in the form of asanas, pranayama, and relaxation along with the conventional therapy for 8 weeks. They were assessed twice (pre- and post-treatment) for pain scores through visual analog scale (VAS) score and QOL by the World Health Organization quality of life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED

Repeated measure ANOVA followed by Tukey's test. < 0.05 was considered significant.

RESULTS

After 8 weeks of yogic intervention, Group II patients showed a significant decrease in intensity of pain seen by a decrease in VAS score ( < 0.001) and improvement in the quality of life with a significant increase ( < 0.001) in physical, psychological, social, and environmental domain scores of WHOQOL-BREF.

CONCLUSIONS

The practice of yoga causes a reduction in the pain intensity and improves the quality of life in patients with chronic pelvic pain.