It recently came to The Minded Institutes attention that the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) includes yoga as a care recommendation for cancer-related fatigue (CRF).
Recommendations from organisations that set the standard of care for a condition in a particular region are called consensus guidelines. These guidelines indicate that the community of professionals working with a condition are in agreement that a particular treatment or practice has clear value. This recommendation, released in 2020, stemmed from an analysis of several studies over the past 10 years. We are incredibly pleased to see yoga and mind-body interventions suggested for treatment plans by leading clinicians in oncology. This heralds the movement of yoga truly becoming part of health care.
Consensus guidelines are graded on the level of evidence to support them and lets clinicians know how much credibility there is for their efficacy.
The level of evidence is II, c, this is “evidence obtained from multiple time series designs with or without the intervention. Dramatic results in uncontrolled trials might also be regarded as this type of evidence.”.
Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) stands out from other types of fatigue due to its severity, persistence, and the fact that it cannot be alleviated by rest or sleep. CRF impacts nearly 65% of cancer patients, with over two-thirds experiencing severe fatigue for at least six months, and one-third enduring this persistent fatigue for several years post-treatment. It negatively impacts quality of life and is considered a significant problem. Treatments for this fatigue often fall short and discovering healthy ways to improve CRF is important.
The article highlighted studies revealing that yoga can significantly reduce fatigue severity, with some of the studies reporting moderate-to-high effects.
Possibly the most important evidence was a phase III randomised controlled trial demonstrating that the addition of yoga may be superior to standard survivorship care in managing cancer-related fatigue.
Esmo’s endorsement of yoga is huge and it aligns with similar consensus guidelines from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, which recommend yoga for anxiety and depression for cancer patients. Given the importance of these directives Heather Mason has now included them in her talk at the Integrative and Personalised Medicine Conference on June 7h at 10:15am, : ‘Not “Just Exercise”: Strengths & challenges of providing yoga to patients & healthcare professionals’ that she will give alongside Paul Fox, CEO of YIHA and Dr. Rupal Dave, Consultant Psychiatrist at the Integrative and Personalised Medicine Conference this coming weekend June 6th-8th.
There are still opportunities to register for the conference to see Heather expand on this research. Register here.
If you are interested in learning more about yoga and chronic fatigue, join Nadyne Mckie in her observation on Yoga Therapy for Chronic Fatigue.
