• Laura Fuentes-Aparicio, Ferran Cuenca-Martínez, Elena Muñoz-Gómez, Sara Mollà-Casanova, Marta Aguilar-Rodríguez, and Núria Sempere-Rubio.
• Department of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
• Pain Med. 2023 Dec 1; 24 (12): 138613951386-1395.

PurposePrimary dysmenorrhea (PD) is 1 of the most prevalent gynecologic conditions. The main aim of this umbrella review was to assess the effects of therapeutic exercise (TE) on PD.MethodsA systematic search was carried out in PubMed, Embase, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, and PEDro (December 10, 2022). The outcome measures assessed were menstrual pain intensity, menstrual pain duration, and quality of life. Methodological quality was analyzed using the AMSTAR and ROBIS scales, and the strength of evidence was established according to the advisory committee grading criteria guidelines.ResultsNine systematic reviews were included. The results showed that TE, regardless of the exercise model and intensity, has a clinical effect in improving menstrual pain intensity in women with PD with moderate quality of evidence. In addition, the results showed that TE has a clinical effect in improving the duration of menstrual pain in women with PD with a limited quality of evidence. However, the results are controversial on the improvement of quality of life in women with PD with a limited quality of evidence.ConclusionsTE seems an effective option to implement in women with PD to improve the intensity and duration of menstrual pain. We cannot draw robust results for quality of life due to the low number of primary studies. More research in this field can help us establish more robust conclusions, as well as to assess whether there is one exercise model or intensity of training that is more effective than others.PROSPERO number: This review was previously registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022371428).© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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