Effect of Pilates exercises on fatigue in post-menopausal women

Abstract

Background A lot of changes occur in women's post-menopausal period: one of these symptoms is fatigue or a lack of energy which is a potential symptom of menopause, and it can be one of the most difficult symptoms to manage. Few studies are concerned with post-menopausal fatigue treatment. Pilates is a mind-body exercise focusing on muscle strength, core stability, endurance, muscle control, posture, and respiration which seems to improve both the physical and psychological components in post-menopausal women. The purpose was to determine the effect of Pilates exercises on fatigue in post-menopausal women. Methods Fifty-two post-menopausal women are suffering from fatigue, their ages ranged from 50 to 55 years, their body mass index (BMI) is below 30 kg/m 2 , and they all became menopause at least 1 year ago. The patients were selected randomly from the out clinic of El Kasr EL-Aini Hospital and randomly divided into two equal groups: group A composed of twenty-six patients who received Pilates exercises and medical standard care for fatigue, and group B is composed of twenty-six patients who received medical standard care for fatigue only. It was a randomized controlled trial for 8 weeks, and the outcome measures were fatigue assessment scale (FAS) and interleukin-6 test (IL-6). Results There was a significant decrease in FAS (P < 0.00001) and IL-6 (P < 0.00001) after treatment for group A while there was no significant reduction for group B. Conclusions Pilates exercises are considered an effective modality to reduce fatigue in post-menopausal women.