Endometriosis, a painful and often debilitating condition suffered by women during their reproductive years, is caused by endometrial tissue in the womb growing outside the womb, sometimes attaching to surrounding organs. When a woman with endometriosis is menstruating, she often has acute pain in the whole pelvic area because the tissue outside the womb becomes inflamed too. Exercise can help alleviate normal menstrual pain, but there are conflicting results for those studying the effects of exercise on women with endometriosis.
When Exercise is Not a Good Idea
The main symptoms of endometriosis are very painful periods, pelvic pain, abdominal and lower back pain, pain on moving the bowels or bladder, fatigue, general malaise, and pain during exercise. This last symptom prevents many women suffering from endometrial pain to even consider exercise. In extreme cases, even gentle exercise such as walking or cycling seems unthinkable. A study reported in the "American Journal of Epidemiology" in 2003 on recreational physical activity and the development of endometriosis in women between the ages of 18 and 39 found that regular vigorous exercise in young women has a preventative effect on developing endometriosis. There was no correlation between moderate or gentle exercise and decreased risk of developing endometeriosis.
Evidence for the Effects of Exercise on Endometriosis
According to a 2001 clinical review in the "British Medical Journal," the existing research looking at the effect of exercises and endometriosis is insufficient to draw any positive or negative correlations. Of six studies, mostly survey based, one found that exercise reduced the side effects of danzol, the drug commonly used to reduce symptoms. The review dismissed the correlation between exercise, retrograde menstruation (when the flow of blood goes backward into the body) and the development of endometriosis. The author of the review article concluded that exercise decreases the risk of endometriosis by reducing estrogen levels. This conclusion does not address the question of whether exercise can offer any form of pain or other symptom relief once you've been diagnosed with endometriosis.
Correlation between Exercise and Endometriosis
Pain from endometriosis may be increased by physical activity. The frequency of other symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting, may make you not feel like exercising. The symptoms of endometriosis, if left untreated, will get worse with each progressive menstrual cycle. A spokeswoman from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists states,"Some women find that recreational exercise improves their well being, which might help with some symptoms of endometriosis."
Theories
Exercise releases endorphins, natural bodily produced, pain-reducing chemicals. The least stress or pain-inducing exercise includes walking, swimming and gentle exercises such as yoga and pilates. Yoga is thought to help pain by secreting natural pain-reducing chemicals in the body and blocking the neural pathways to pain. Another theory is that exercise reduces estrogen levels. Anyone new to exercise is best advised to start out gently or slowly, say a 25-minute walk three times a week.
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