Effects of yoga and conventional physiotherapy programs onfatigue, balance, walking and quality of life in multiple sclerosis patients

The aim of this study was to compare the effects of yoga and conventional physiotherapy programs on fatigue, balance, walking and quality of life in patients with multiple sclerosis. Twenty volunteers (11F, 9M; 46.35 ± 11.89 years) were included in the study. The study group was randomly divided into two groups. The first group received yin yoga (n:10) and the second group received conventional physiotherapy (n: 10) 3 days a week, 60 minutes a day for a total of 8 weeks. Before and after treatment, fatigue severity scale (FSS), balance with Berg Balance Scale, walking with MS Walk Scale (MSWS-12 vst), MS Quality of Life Scale (MSQOL-54) were evaluated. In group analysis, yoga group after treatment; There was a statistically significant decrease in fatigue (p = 0.041) and MS walking (p = 0.003) scores in this group in terms of quality of life (MSQOL-54) assessment of mental and physical (p = 0.013, p = 0.006) and balance parameters (p = 0, 01) statistically significant increase. In the conventional physiotherapy group; there was no statistically significant difference between fatigue, balance, MS walking and quality of life scores. According to our findings, we found that the yoga group gave better results and we think that yoga may be an option to support exercise-based physiotherapy and rehabilitation programs in patients with mild to moderate MS.