Effectiveness of Group Versus Individual Yoga Exercises on Fatigue of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis disorders poses heavy physical and emotional effect on patients who are associated with the disease.

This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of individual versus group exercises on fatigue on patients with multiple sclerosis.

In this clinical trial, 85 patients with multiple sclerosis were divided in two groups of individualized exercise and team exercise. The intervention was conducted for 6 weeks and comprised of mild stretching and basic yoga exercises twice a day. The data were collected through demographic questionnaire, standard fatigue scale and self-reported checklist. Data analysis was performed by SPSS software.

The mean levels of fatigue perception after the intervention in group exercise was 27.9 ± 15.9 and 27.1 ± 17.2 in individual exercise. There was no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). Statistically significant difference was observed in the mean level of perceived fatigue in triplicate measurements (P = 0.013) among patients who completed individual exercise. However, this difference was not significant in the group exercise.

Performing mild stretching exercises and basic yoga are recommended as a cost-effective method which is easy to perform among patients with mild to moderate disabilities.