Feasibility of a 6-Month Yoga Program to Improve the Physical and Psychosocial Status of Persons with Multiple Sclerosis and their Family Members.

CONTEXT: To the best of our knowledge, there has been no study on yoga that includes both persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) and their family members. Because yoga has therapeutic effects in both persons with MS and healthy persons, we hypothesized that it would be an effective method to improve not only the physical and psychosocial status but also the time persons with MS and their family members spend together.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the feasibility of a 6-month (long-term) yoga program to improve the physical and psychosocial status of persons with MS and their family members.

DESIGN: Uncontrolled clinical trial.

SETTING: The protocol was developed at the Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, and School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey.

PARTICIPANTS: Persons with MS and healthy family members.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Walking, balance, fatigue, health-related quality of life, depression, pain, and kinesiophobia.

INTERVENTIONS: Yoga training was given once a week (at least 1h) for 6 months. The same assessors who assessed at baseline also performed the same assessments immediately after the end of the training (i.e., after 6 months).

RESULTS: In total, 44 participants (27 persons with MS and 17 healthy family members) participated in the study. Twelve persons with MS and three healthy family members completed the 6-month yoga intervention. The completion rate for persons with MS and healthy subjects was 44.4% and 17.6%, respectively. In persons with MS, the mental dimension of health-related quality of life, walking speed, fatigue, and depression levels significantly improved after the yoga program (p < .05). However, there was no significant change in the self-reported walking impact, balance, pain, physical dimension of health-related quality of life, and kinesiophobia levels in the persons with MS (p > .05). This study suggests that a 6-month yoga program can improve the mental dimension of health-related quality of life, walking speed, fatigue, and depression in the persons with MS. However, the 6-month yoga program does not appear to be a feasible method to increase the time that persons with MS spend together with their family members.