Can Yoga Help Combat Prostate Cancer
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Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine have found that yoga may help alleviate negative side effects of prostate cancer treatment.
The phase II trial was designed to measure potential therapeutic effects of yoga on fatigue, erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence and overall quality of life in patients undergoing external beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer.
Between October 2014 and January 2016, 50 prostate cancer patients who underwent between six and nine weeks of radiation were split into two groups, one practicing yoga and the other not.
"At their baseline, before patients started treatment, patients in both groups were on the lower end of the scale, meaning they reported lower amounts of fatigue," Dr. Neha Vapiwala, associate professor of Radiation Oncology at Perelman, said in a press release. "But as treatment went on, we observed a difference in the two groups."
"Levels of patient-reported fatigue are expecte...