Effect of Aerobic Exercise and Yogasana Programme on Peripheral Neuropathy Patients with Restless Leg Syndrome

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a neurological disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to move one's body to stop uncomfortable or odd sensations. It most commonly affects the legs, but can affect the arms, torso, and even phantom limbs. Moving the affected body part modulates the sensations, providing temporary relief. RLS is a hardly studied, probably under-diagnosed condition in India. The exact prevalence of restless legs syndrome in India is not known as not much literature available on restless legs syndrome from India.

The age of the patients ranged 40 to 60 years. The patients were diabetic neuropathy with restless leg syndrome were selected as subjects for this study. The patients were divided into two groups. Group A as control group were given pharmacological treatment only. Group B as experimental group were given pharmacological therapy along with aerobic exercises and yogasan program.

The pre test means of Restless Leg Syndrome of group A and group B resulted in an `F’ ratio of 1.46 which indicates statistically significant difference between the pre-test means of both the groups at 0.001 level of confidence. The post test means of Group B 11.10 and Group A 20.27 resulted in an `F’ ratio of 86.10 which indicates there was statistically significant difference between the pre test means of both the groups at 0.001 level of confidence.

The adjusted post-test means of group B 11.49 and group A 19.83 resulted in an` F’ ratio of 139.80 which indicates significant difference between the adjusted means at 0.01 level of confidence. This indicates the aerobic exercise and yogasana programme induced the decrease in restless leg syndrome for the experimental group after twelve weeks of training period.

Aerobic exercise and yogasana program with pharmacological treatment given significant effect in reducing the restless leg syndrome symptoms. The dosage of drugs intake was reduced in group B after the course of the study. Hence this exercise regimen can be given as a adjunct therapy in treating restless less leg syndrome.