Yoga for Treating Headaches: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Integrative Medicine
• Public Health

Background:

• Headache disorders represent a significant global health burden, ranking as the sixth leading cause of disability worldwide.
• The substantial impact of headaches necessitates the exploration of effective management strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and analyze the effects of yoga interventions on headache disorders.
• To evaluate yoga's impact on key headache metrics including frequency, duration, and pain intensity.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive literature search was conducted across major databases (MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO) up to May 2019.
• Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing yoga to usual care or active treatments in patients with chronic or episodic headaches were included.
• Primary outcomes assessed were headache frequency, duration, and pain intensity, analyzed using standardized mean differences (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Main Results:

• Meta-analysis indicated a statistically significant benefit of yoga for reducing headache frequency (SMD = -1.97), duration (SMD = -1.45), and pain intensity (SMD = -3.43).
• These positive effects were predominantly observed in patients with tension-type headaches.
• No statistically significant effects were found for patients with migraine.

Conclusions:

• Preliminary evidence suggests that yoga may offer short-term efficacy in improving headache frequency, duration, and pain intensity for individuals with tension-type headaches.
• Further rigorous research is essential to solidify these findings and explore long-term effects and applicability to other headache types.