Can Yoga Practice Help Manage Migraines?

Yoga may help manage migraines and associated symptoms

Background

Yoga is a well-known, popular activity nearly worldwide. In addition to its general health and wellness benefits, it’s often used as a complementary therapy alongside other treatments for many common chronic conditions. In fact, yoga is the most common complementary therapy for adults in the U.S. One chronic malady that yoga participants reportedly use their practice to help manage is headaches, including migraines. In addition to adult yoga practitioners, one large survey of children in the U.S. who experienced headaches and used complementary therapies reported that 57% of them did yoga.

One benefit of yoga as a complementary therapy is that it has very minimal side effects or contraindications. When used as a complementary therapy, some specific styles of yoga may be better suited to supporting those experiencing specific conditions, like migraines. One physical therapy reference specifically recommended Iyengar, Hatha, and restorative yoga styles as modalities that may be helpful for migraines. The review paper we summarized here examined published scientific journal articles to look for common themes among them related to yoga’s effects on migraine symptoms.

Research question

Can yoga help people manage migraines?

Research methods

The research team conducted a comprehensive literature review. They searched for published research in journal articles using the keywords migraine and yoga, as well as headache and yoga. They used the years 2018 – 2023 as their search timeframe. The researchers included articles in their review if they examined yoga as a treatment for migraines with or without other treatment modalities, and the study was in either English or French. They included studies that examined the effects of yoga on migraines or headaches for both adults and children.

Results

Eight articles met the inclusion criteria. All of those eight research articles examined yoga’s effects on migraines or headaches over three months. Five of the individual studies were conducted in India. One was completed in Germany. The other two research articles they included were review studies, which included multiple studies within their examination.

Yoga had positive effects on headaches and migraines across the studies included in this review article. However, other treatments also had positive effects in three studies. In one study, average pain scores and Headache Impact Test scores decreased in both the yoga and self-care treatment groups. A different study reported that both yoga and prescribed pharmaceutical medications were correlated with reduced headache frequency, intensity, duration, and decreased Headache Impact Test scores. In only one study, an alternate treatment, physical therapy, provided a greater reduction in headache frequency than the yoga treatment.

Outcomes

Specific outcomes after three months of yoga treatments for headaches or migraines across the studies included:

• Five studies reported reduced headache frequency
• Five studies also reported reduced Headache Impact Test scores
• Two studies reported decreased pain intensity, and three reported reduced headache intensity
• Three studies found a decrease in Migraine Disability Assessment Scores
• Two studies reported a decrease in headache duration
• One study found that those taking prescription pharmaceuticals reduced their pill count after three months of yoga
• A single study also found that the number of patients who reported being headache-free after three months was greater in the yoga treatment than in the control
• One study reported decreased perceived stress for those in the yoga treatment group

Why is this relevant to yoga practitioners?

While yoga wasn’t better than other treatments in all cases, it did significantly reduce the frequency, duration, and pain intensity of headaches or migraines in multiple studies. Importantly, yoga was correlated with positive impacts without causing any adverse effects. One study showed some types of physical therapy were equally effective, and other studies indicated that some medications were as effective as yoga. Medications, however, often have side effects.

This review suggests that an appropriate yoga practice, tailored to specifically address headache sources and symptoms, is a valid option for treatment alongside other treatment modalities. This provides more options for those experiencing chronic migraines or headaches, so they can choose the best treatment for their specific situation.

Reference citation

Begasse de Dhaem, O. and C. Bernstein. 2024. Yoga for migraine prevention: An ancient practice with evidence for current use. Current Pain and Headache Reports. 28:383-393.