Endometriosis and physical activity: A narrative review

Claire Tourny, Amira Zouita, Samira El Kababi, Léa Feuillet, Ayoub Saeidi, Ismail Laher, Katja Weiss, Beat Knechtle, Hassane Zouhal
International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics · 2023 · vol. 163(3) , pp. 747–756 · doi:10.1002/ijgo.14898 · PMID:37345574 · W4381597867
review OA: green CC0 ⤵ 28 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This review examined physical activity's effects on endometriosis pain and quality of life, finding body awareness practices like yoga reduce symptoms while advising caution with intense exercise.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is a painful gynecological disorder that affects many women. Constant treatments and contraception changes affect women looking for solutions to treat and limit the problems caused by endometriosis. The current narrative review discusses the effects of physical activity on the management, pain, and quality of life in patients with endometriosis. Findings suggest that body awareness practices such as Hatha yoga, the Jacobson method, and progressive muscle relaxation reduce pain and stress and improve the quality of life associated with endometriosis. It also highlights the current knowledge gap on available evidence and future research. Moreover, care must be taken when considering patients' physical abilities and goals and avoiding intense physical activities. The forms of endometriosis and its symptoms vary from one woman to another, so it is important to perform studies with various nonmedicinal or surgical techniques. It is important to continue randomized controlled trials to obtain more data on the benefits of physical activity in women with endometriosis and also to identify what types of activities could be beneficial to combat pain symptoms and improve the daily lives of women with endometriosis.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Contraception Contraception

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (90)

Cited by (28)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-04T01:30:01.192114+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-04T00:00:01.174412+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-06-04T00:33:44.626534+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK