Therapeutic Physical Exercise for Dysmenorrhea: A Scoping Review

Background: Dysmenorrhea affects many women of reproductive age. Physical exercise has been used as an effective intervention for pain reduction and to improve well-being. Physiotherapy, involving movement and exercise, can be effective in relieving menstrual pain and provide additional benefits. The aim is to identify therapeutic physical exercise program and exercise protocols used to reduce pain among these women. Methods: A scoping review was conducted in accordance with Joanna Briggs Institute's methodology, using the PCC acronym. Articles were sourced from: PubMed, Cochrane Library, PEDro and ScienceDirect, covering studies published between 1 January 2013 and 30 April 2023, representing the period we considered most appropriate at the time the study was initiated. Qualitative studies, books, book chapters, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and review articles were excluded. Studies were analyzed according to the PRISMA-ScR framework. Results: 3325 studies were identified, but only 9 were included. Considerable variation was observed in the types and parameters of the exercise program across studies, including differences in duration, intensity, number of repetitions and series. Conclusions: The findings of this study highlight that aerobic training, particularly among women in their 20s, emerged as the most frequently utilized form of therapeutic physical exercise for alleviating menstrual pain in the studies reviewed. This suggests that aerobic exercise may hold significant promise as a non-pharmacological intervention for managing dysmenorrhea.