Effects of different physiotherapy modalities on insomnia and depression in perimenopausal, menopausal, and post-menopausal women: a systematic review.

Authors: Hagar E Lialy, Malak A Mohamed, Latifa A AbdAllatif, Maria Khalid, Abdulrahman ElhelbawyJournal: BMC women's healthPublished: July 10, 2023DOI: 10.1186/s12905-023-02515-9

Q2 JournalSJR: 1.61h-index: 42SCImago

Strong EvidenceSystematic Review

Insomnia Depression Menopause Symptoms Perimenopause

In Plain Language: sleep, explained

Researchers reviewed all available studies on different physical therapy treatments for sleep problems and depression in women going through or past menopause. They analyzed multiple studies to see which treatments worked best for these common menopausal symptoms.

Key Findings: what this systematic review found about sleep

✓The systematic review evaluated multiple physiotherapy modalities as interventions for insomnia and depression symptoms in perimenopausal, menopausal, and post-menopausal women.
✓Physical therapy treatments showed potential effectiveness for managing sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms that commonly occur during menopause transitions.

What This Means for You

While this review examines various physiotherapy approaches for menopausal insomnia and depression, reflexology's specific effectiveness for these conditions requires more targeted research before making it your primary treatment choice.

What This Means for Practitioners

This systematic review provides a framework for understanding where reflexology fits within broader physiotherapy interventions for menopausal symptoms, highlighting the need for more rigorous reflexology-specific studies in this population.

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Sleep: common questions

What does this study say about sleep?

What did this study find?

The systematic review evaluated multiple physiotherapy modalities as interventions for insomnia and depression symptoms in perimenopausal, menopausal, and post-menopausal women. Physical therapy treatments showed potential effectiveness for managing sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms that commonly occur during menopause transitions.

How strong is this evidence?

This is a systematic review and we rate its evidence strong. It was published in BMC women's health, a Q2 journal. This study is indexed here for context; it did not test reflexology itself.