Abstract Purpose: To examine the feasibility of using an exercise intervention for reducing menstrual pain associated with primary dysmenorrhea (PD) and to obtain preliminary results to estimate the sample size for a future randomized controlled trial (RCT). Methods: A quasi-experimental design was applied. Ten women 18-45 years with PD were included. The participants underwent vigorous aerobic training at the School of Physiotherapy on a treadmill three times a week for up to 4 weeks followed by aerobic training at home for up to 4 weeks. The feasibility measures were adherence to the intervention programme and intervention prescription, retention and safety. The short form McGill pain questionnaire was used to measure pain at first (T1), second (T2) and third (T3) menstrual cycles following trial entry. Results: Overall adherence was 98%, with 100% adherence to clinic-based intervention and intervention prescription and 96% for home exercise programme. Retention rate was 100%. With respect to pain a large effect size was identified at T2 and T3. No adverse events reported. Conclusions: Results demonstrated that the intervention is applicable and feasible. In addition, the preliminary results show evidence of positive changes after the intervention. The intervention programme's effectiveness will be studied further, in a future RCT. Implications for Rehabilitation There is a lack of available evidence from randomized controlled trials regarding the use of exercise in alleviating the symptoms associated with primary dysmenorrhea (PD). The preliminary results of this study shows that exercises may be effective in reducing the pain associated with PD indicated by a large effect size. The preliminary findings from this study could also contribute significantly to PD management and introduce new practice opportunities for physiotherapists working in women's health.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 8. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 29 May 2019.
All research outputs
#6,100,427
of 34,410,315 outputs
Outputs from Disability & Rehabilitation
#928
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Outputs of similar age
#53,454
of 294,845 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Disability & Rehabilitation
#8
of 56 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,410,315 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 81st percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,766 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.8. This one has done well, scoring higher than 80% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 294,845 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 81% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 56 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 83% of its contemporaries.
