Yoga in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Despite advancements in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the global prevalence of IBD is increasing. Patients with IBD often experience a high psychosocial burden, worsening their IBD symptoms and increasing relapse, hospitalization rates, and healthcare costs, which impairs their quality of life (QoL). Evidence suggests that mind-body intervention in many chronic illnesses is effective in improving symptoms and QoL. Yoga is the most frequently used mind-body practice globally. Meta-analyses of randomized clinical trials and prospective studies have highlighted that yoga improves symptoms and QoL of patients with IBD; however, recommendations about indications for yoga as well as dose and frequency of yoga are lacking. The present narrative review aims to describe the available evidence regarding the effects of yoga on common patient-reported outcome measures in IBD, including depression, anxiety, stress, and QoL. Physicians can hence promote yoga interventions in their discussions with patients to help control these IBD-related outcome measures.