The Effect of Prenatal Yoga on Pregnancy Related Symptoms: A Pilot Quasi-Experimental Study

Introduction: In the last decade, yoga has attracted much attention from researchers. Although there are many studies on yoga, research on the effect of prenatal yoga on pregnancy related symptoms is limited. This study aimed to determine the effect of prenatal yoga on pregnancy related symptoms.
Methods: The study was at antenatal care services between June 2018 to October 2018 in Turkey. Simple random method was used to assign participants to the study arms. The yoga group attended a prenatal yoga program for 60 minutes once a week for four weeks. The control group received routine care. Data were collected before and after the intervention using the descriptive characteristics form and pregnancy symptoms inventory. Data analysis used descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation/standard error, and percentages), Chi-Square, Mann-Whitney, and Wilcoxon tests. Significance was set at p < 0.05.
Results: The study was completed with 70 participants (the yoga group:35; the control group: 35). The yoga group had a significantly lower post-test pregnancy symptoms inventory symptom frequency total score than the pre-test score (38.42±18.76 vs. 32.77±16.55, p<0.05). The total score of the yoga group's gastrointestinal, respiratory, and mental health symptoms was reduced after the intervention (respectively 6.74±4.32 vs.5.31±3.38; 1.48±1.26 vs.1.05±1.13; 7.08±4.59 vs. 5.22±3.48, p<0.05). The yoga group had significantly lower mental health symptom scores than the control group (5.22±3.48 vs. 7.34±4.02, p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the control group's pre-test and post-test pregnancy symptoms inventory symptom frequency scores.
Conclusion: Pregnancy related symptoms were significantly reduced in the yoga group. It is thought that prenatal yoga may be effective on pregnancy related symptoms. Yoga can be recommended to cope with pregnancy related symptoms and support activities of daily living.