Effects of Different Physiotherapy Modalities on Insomnia and Depression in Perimenopausal, Menopausal, and Post-menopausal Women: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background Menopause is the time that marks passing 12 months after last menstruation cycle in women between ages 40–50. Menopausal women have common symptoms such as: hot flashes, vaginal dryness, mood switching, depression and insomnia. The systematic review aims to determine the effects of different therapeutic and manual modalities on insomnia and depression in perimenopausal, menopausal, and post-menopausal women. Methodology After identifying our inclusion/exclusion criteria, adding our search term into 3 databases (PubMed, science open, and Cochrane), 3958 papers were identified. By using EndNote software, we excluded duplicates, unrelated, and non-full text papers. Thus, we included only 26 papers including 7 physiotherapy modalities: exercise, reflexology, footbath, walking, therapeutic and aromatherapy message, craniofacial message, and yoga. Results Most of the included modalities’ results showed a significant improvement in insomnia and depression symptoms in intervention group rather than control group. Conclusion Using non-pharmaceutical interventions such as physiotherapy have an overall positive impact on reducing insomnia and depression in menopause women.

Multidisciplinary Approaches in Menopause Patients to Improve Their Quality of Life

“…Eman et al, made a comparison between aerobic exercise and reflexology, the result was that aerobic exercise was more effective in reducing average depression scores than reflexology. (22) Another RCT study that was carried out with a population of 120 women randomly assigned to two groups, the first group received foot reflexology therapy and another control group (foot massage), the result was that vasomotor symptoms and sexual dysfunction improved significantly. in the first group and even reduces the frequency of hot flashes by 56%, after 12 sessions applied 2 times a week.…”