The Effect of Prenatal Yoga on Physical Health of Third Trimester Pregnant Women: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Low back pain is commonly encountered in the later stages of pregnancy, being experienced by about half to two-thirds of pregnant women and possibly restricting normal activities and everyday functioning. This scoping review aimed to identify evidence on the effects of prenatal yoga on physical health in women in the third trimester of pregnancy. It was conducted in line with the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. A search of PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar was performed for studies published between 2019 and 2025. This search resulted in 138 records. After removing duplicates, screening titles and abstracts, and reviewing full texts, seven studies met the eligibility criteria and were included in the review. The selection of studies and the extraction of data were each carried out by two reviewers. The studies included in the review employed a variety of research designs, such as randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, and pre-experimental studies. In genera, the outcomes suggested that prenatal yoga had a beneficial effect on a range of maternal health outcomes. It was associated with a decreased prevalence of low back pain, an improvement in the quality of sleep assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, better balance, and increased general well-being. Moreover, all the studies identified a reduction in both anxiety and pain levels. There were no adverse effects related to prenatal yoga observed in any of the papers, which means that it can be considered a safe non-pharmacological approach for pregnant women. In summary, it can be concluded that prenatal yoga has the potential to bring about some positive changes to the physical health of women in the late pregnancy stage, particularly by decreasing musculoskeletal discomfort. At the same time, variability in study design and different intervention protocols needs further investigation through randomized controlled trials.Keywords: Prenatal Yoga, Pregnancy, Third Trimester, Low Back Pain, Musculoskeletal Pain, Non-Pharmacological Intervention.