Primary Dysmenorrhea and Yoga: A Mini-Review

Abstract

Dysmenorrhea affects 45.3% of women as cyclic menstruation pain. In the treatment of dysmenorrhea, traditional and complementary medicine practices are preferred besides pharmacological drugs. One of these practices is yoga. In this study, we compiled studies investigating the effectiveness of yoga in the treatment and management of primary dysmenorrhea. In the Pubmed and Cochrane library web databases, a total of 40 studies were reached by scanning the studies containing the words dysmenorrhea and yoga. After the studies that did not have suitable features for our study were removed from these studies, a total of 9 scientific research, compilation and meta-analysis studies were determined and examined within the scope of our study. In this study, we reviewed and compiled studies to determine the effectiveness of yoga in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea, menstrual pain and quality of life. Although it was designed differently and studied in different societies, it was determined that yoga was effective in dysmenorrhea in all studies. However, the relatively small number of participants in the study’s results in the need for further studies with wide participation and laboratory support. Yoga is an effective method of treatment and management of dysmenorrhea with no side effects, easy, applicable, quality of life enhancing properties.

Keywords: Dysmenorrhea; Yoga; Complementary medicine; Traditional medicine