The effect of yoga on chronic abdominal pain and quality of life.

Background: Chronic abdominal pain is a common problem of school-going
children and is one of the most frequent reasons to visit a
pediatrician. Abdominal pain is often associated with other somatic
complaints such as headache, back and limb pain. These pain symptoms
lead to low quality of life and frequent school absence. The benefits of
standard treatment (reassurance, dietary manipulation) and of
pharmacological therapy are limited. Several studies have shown that
psychological distress is strongly associated with abdominal pain in
children, not just as a consequence of the pain, but probably also as a
predictor of symptoms. Research has shown that yoga decreases stress,
including psychological and physical symptoms.

Aim: The aim of this study is to compare the effect of yoga exercises
and standard care on pain frequency, intensity and quality of life in
children with functional abdominal pain.

Methods: 65 children, aged 8-18 years with chronic abdominal pain will
be randomized to one of these treatments: yoga therapy additional to
standard care or standard care alone. Primary outcomes are the
percentages of patients with complete remission of chronic abdominal
pain after the treatment phase and at six and twelve months follow up.
Secondary outcome are changes in quality of life.

Children with chronic abdominal pain that received yoga treatment additional to standard care will show less abdominal pain compared to children that received only standard care.

Outcomes are assessed at:

t=0 baseline; before randomisation;

t=1 directly after finishing the treatment;

t=2 six months follow up;

t=3 twelve months follow up.

Yoga therapy will be given in groups of 7- 8 children per group, in which patients will receive one treatment session each week for 3 months. These hatha yoga sessions of 1.5 h each will be provided by a children’s yoga teacher. The sessions are based on classic Hatha yoga principles in combination with specialized yoga exercises for children.



The control group will receive treatment as usual (information about the disorder and dietary advice).