Feasibility of Yoga for Functional Neurological Disorders
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Acceptability and feasibility of an online yoga programme for adults with a functional neurological disorder.
IRAS ID
344483
Contact name
Kathryn Jack
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
“Functional neurological disorders” (FND) is an umbrella term used to describe a collection of neurological symptoms that cause significant disability and distress but without any brain damage or physical dysfunction. The symptoms are similar to other neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease, all of which are very treatable with drugs, unlike FND which does not have any treatments to cure or suppress symptoms. Other symptoms can include paralysis (often misdiagnosed as stroke), blindness, deafness, loss of speech, swallowing problems, and dizziness. Patients also frequently experience extreme fatigue and brain fog. These symptoms make it very difficult to lead a “normal” life and affects peoples’ quality of life and well-being.
Yoga is a holistic physical, mental, and spiritual practice that aims to achieve a connection between the body, mind, and spirit. It uses repetitive physical postures and stretches (asanas), breathing exercises (pranayama), and meditation (dyana) to improve physical and psychological wellbeing.
Our yoga intervention for people with FND will be delivered online twice a week for 12 weeks. The yoga will be very gentle and is specifically designed to accommodate the ranges of movement and the levels of extreme tiredness that people typically have with FND.
We aim to recruit 30 patients and deliver the yoga in small groups of between 6 and 8 people.
We will use objective measures covering areas of physical health and wellbeing at the start and end of the 12 week course. We will also gather qualitative data by asking the participants for feedback in their own words about whether the yoga was helpful and in what ways.
If the study results show that the yoga is acceptable and helpful, then we will apply for a large research grant to try and replicate the results in a large multi-centre UK clinical trial.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/EM/0169
Date of REC Opinion
4 Aug 2025
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion