Comparative effectiveness of Yoga and Pilates intervention on respiratory function of patients with breast cancer

Objective: Most modern breast cancer treatments are shown to be effective in terms of survival but lead to side effects such as dysfunction of the upper limb, lymphedema, pain syndrome, plexitis, сardiotoxicity, fatigue, and pulmonary complications. Applied radiotherapy enhances the number of side effects that patients with breast cancer experience over a long period. The aim of this study was to compare effectiveness of Hatha Yoga and Pilates interventions on respiratory function in patients with breast cancer.Methods: 95 women completed the interventions and were included in the final analysis. The participants, staged I-II, were randomly assigned to 2 groups. Group A (n = 48, 57.53 ± 1.92 years) received Hatha Yoga intervention and group B (n = 47, 58.00 ± 1.27 years) received Pilates intervention. Both programs were conducted for 12 weeks, with three 60-min sessions per week. Spirometry was used to measure pre- and post-intervention functional capacity of the respiratory system.Results: Significant differences (p<0.05) were found in Vital Capacity, Forced Vital Capacity, Peak Expiratory Flow, Maximum Expiratory Flow25, Expiratory Reserve Volume and Maximal Voluntary Ventilation in Hatha Yoga group compared with Pilates group. There was no significant difference between both groups in Force Expiratory Volume and Maximum Expiratory Flow50 (p>0,05) Conclusions: Hatha Yoga and Pilates interventions are both effective in respiratory function, but Hatha Yoga turns out more beneficial.