Effect of Yoga on Primary Dysmenorrhoea among Adolescent Girls – A Literature Review

Menstrual pain affects most of today female adolescents and this is a leading cause of school absenteeism/ college absenteeism. The researcher reviewed the various literatures to evaluate the effect of yoga on primary dysmenorrhoea and about prevalence through various sources such as Printed material, conference papers, Books as well as electronic sources which are Pubmed, CINHAL, Google Scholar, MEDLINE, Science Direct and etc. Primary dysmenorrhoea is menstruation cramps which is common, recurrent and without any pathological condition. In India 50 to 87.8% adolescents had complaints of primary dysmenorrhoea, while equalling occurrence of primary dysmenorrhea from other countries, Ethiopia reported 70%, Malaysia 6.8% and Jordan reported 55.8%. There are many factors which make pain worse include heavier, irregular or longer, menstrual cycle; lack of exercise; mental or social stress; drinking alcohol; smoking; being overweight and other factors. Most of studies show that yogic practices like different yogasana such as Bhujanagasana, Matsyasana, Vajrasana, Dhanurasana, Apanasana and Shavasana, relaxation techniques, pranayama’s and meditation have proven very beneficial in the treatment of primary Dysmenorrhoea. After reviewing literatures its concluded that yoga is effective to decrease menstrual pain and it will also increase productivity in daily living activity by enhance self-confidence level.