Yoga for Symptoms of Nerve Damage Caused by Chemotherapy

May 8, 2025 updated by: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Yoga for Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy in Breast and GYN Cancer Survivors: A Pilot Study

Some types of chemotherapy used to treat breast cancer can cause damage to nerves with symptoms like tingling, numbness, muscle weakness, and pain in the hands and feet that can last and can affect functioning. The purpose of this study is to find out the effects of yoga on reducing symptoms caused by such nerve damage.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

51

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New York
      • Harrison, New York, United States, 10604
        • Memoral Sloan Kettering Westchester
      • New York, New York, United States, 10021
        • Memorial Sloan - Kettering Cancer Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • English-speaking
  • Age >/= 18 years old
  • Survivors with a primary diagnosis of stage I-III breast, ovarian uterine, or endometrial cancer
  • Moderate to severe chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy, defined by symptoms such as numbness, tingling, or pain ratings of 4 or greater on a 0-10 numeric rating scale
  • Have completed neurotoxic chemotherapy, i.e. taxanes (paclitaxel, docetaxel) and platinum (carboplatin) at least 3 months prior to enrollment
  • If taking anti-neuropathy medications, they are on a stable regiment (no change in 3 months)
  • ECOG performance status 0-2

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participants with metastatic disease
  • Participants who are currently receiving physical therapy or practicing yoga for any reason

Control Group - Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  • English speaking
  • Age >/= 18 years old
  • Survivors with a primary diagnosis of Stage I-III breast, ovarian, uterine, or endometrial cancer
  • CIPN symptoms such as numbness, tingling, or pain ratings < 2 on a 0-10 NRS scale
  • Have completed neurotoxic chemotherapy, i.e. taxanes (paclitaxel, docetaxel) and platinum (carboplatin) at least 3 months prior to enrollment
  • ECOG performance status 0-2

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with metastatic disease
  • Patients taking anti-neuropathy medication
  • Patients who are currently receiving physical therapy or practicing yoga for any reason

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Yoga Arm
After randomization, participants in the Yoga group will meet twice weekly for 8 weeks of classes taught by MSK yoga instructors. Each class will last for sixty minutes. In addition to these group classes, participants will utilize a home-based program on the days group classes are not held. The daily home practice will continue for four weeks after the group classes are finished.
Other: Yoga
Participants in the Yoga group will meet twice weekly for 8 weeks of classes taught by MSK yoga instructors. Each class will last for sixty minutes. In addition to these group classes, participants will utilize a home-based program on the days group classes are not held. The daily home practice will continue for four weeks after the group classes are finished.
Active Comparator: Wait List Control Arm (WLC)
Participants in the WLC group will continue usual care for twelve weeks before participating in Yoga classes for eight weeks. At the end of the twelve week follow-up, these participants will receive eight weeks of group Yoga classes and the home Yoga practice recording. At week 20, they will complete a final follow-up visit.
Other: Wait List Control
Participants in the WLC group will continue usual care for twelve weeks before participating in Yoga classes for eight weeks. At the end of the twelve week follow-up, these subjects will receive eight weeks of group Yoga classes and the home Yoga practice recording. At week 20, they will complete a final follow-up visit.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in treatment related peripheral neuropathy symptoms
Time Frame: 8 weeks of the participants' most bothersome peripheral neuropathy symptom
Treatment related symptoms will be evaluated by using NCI CTCAE v4.0
8 weeks of the participants' most bothersome peripheral neuropathy symptom

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Ting Bao, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 18, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 15, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

September 15, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 19, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 20, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

September 25, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 13, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 8, 2025

Last Verified

September 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 17-449

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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