Yoga to Reduce Fatigue in Hospitalized Children Receiving Intensive Chemotherapy

The Hospital for Sick Children

Status: Completed

Conditions: Fatigue

Treatments: Behavioral: Individualized Yoga Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02105389

Yoga Pilot

Details and patient eligibility

About

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a major problem in children, adolescents and adults receiving treatment for cancer, and intensively treated patients may be at higher risk. While exercise is an effective intervention for CRF, patients receiving the most intensive chemotherapy may frequently be too ill to participate in a standardized exercise program. A unique intervention that combines exercise and relaxation is yoga. This pilot study will evaluate the feasibility of three times weekly yoga sessions administered by a trained yoga instructor for a three week duration and will enroll between 10 and 20 children. If feasible, the intervention will be tested in a randomized controlled trial.

Enrollment: 11 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 7 to 18 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Diagnosed with any acute myeloid leukemia (AML), relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia, stage 3 or 4 Burkitt's lymphoma/leukemia or about to receive autologous or allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT)
• Expected to be an inpatient for at least three weeks after initiation of chemotherapy or conditioning
• Ages 7 to 18 years of age at enrollment

Exclusion criteria

• Features present to an extent that would preclude compliance with yoga (as assessed by the attending physician): a) motor disability, b) cognitive disability, c) cardiopulmonary symptoms, or d) known compression fracture resulting in disability
• Parent or patient cannot understand English

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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11 participants in 1 patient group

Individualized Yoga Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Individualized Yoga Intervention sessions will be administered by a trained yoga instructor three times weekly (or up to a maximum of five times per week) for three consecutive weeks. There will be a common structure for all sessions that will include relaxation and breathing exercises as well as a series of poses focused on strengthening, flexibility, and balance. There will be low, moderate and high intensity regimens prescribed depending on the wishes and abilities of the child and parent and the judgment of the yoga instructor.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Individualized Yoga Intervention