Effects of a Yoga Program on the Functionality of Individuals

There is a notable and emerging use of structured exercise programs incorporating Yoga for chronic musculoskeletal pain. However, regarding knee osteoarthritis (KOA), the effectiveness of Yoga remains uncertain to justify its inclusion in therapeutic exercise programs in routine clinical practice. Therefore, the aim of this project is to evaluate the effects of Yoga on functionality in individuals with KOA.

For this purpose, participants with KOA, including individuals of both sexes, aged 45 years or older, with a clinical diagnosis of KOA, will be randomly allocated using a random sequence generated by software, organized in six blocks of 24 codes, with an allocation ratio of 1:1, numbered sequentially from 1 to 126. Allocation will be concealed and performed after pre-intervention assessment and confirmation of eligibility criteria. Participants will be distributed into two groups: (1) Experimental group - Yoga (n = 45) and (2) Control group - therapeutic exercise (n = 45).

The intervention will last 8 weeks, with assessments conducted at baseline, after 4 weeks, and after 8 weeks of the intervention programs. The following outcome measures will be used: Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ), Global Perceived Effect Scale (GPE), 30-Second Sit-to-Stand Test (30s-STS), Timed Up and Go Test (TUG), and Maximal Voluntary Isometric Contraction (MVIC).

Data analysis will include a normality test to verify the distribution of the data, followed by the appropriate statistical tests for intra- and intergroup comparisons. The comparisons will consider two factors: time and group. A significance level of 5% (p \< 0.05) will be adopted for all analyses.