Effects of Connective Tissue Manipulation Versus Stretching Exercises on Pain and Symptoms Severity in Females With Primary Dysmenorrhea

The study will be a randomized clinical trial in which the effect of connective tissue manipulation will be compared with the effect of stretching exercises on pain and severity of symptoms in primary dysmenorrhea. Inclusion criteria will include nulliparous females in the age range of 18-25 years old. Exclusion criteria will be women with irregular menses (<21 and >35 days), systemic and gynecological diseases (gastrointestinal, autoimmune, psychiatric diseases, endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory diseases), pregnant women, previous pelvic surgery, traumatic injury. The participants will be allocated to two groups, group A and B. Group A will receive connective tissue manipulation on sacral, lumbar, lower thoracic and anterior pelvic regions with the patient in sitting and supine positions. Group B will receive active stretching exercise regime including forward, backward ad side trunk bending, heel raise, half squatting, knee to chest, hamstring stretching, calf stretching and abdominal contractions.

All the participants will be informed about the manner of research and will be asked to sign the consent form after they are willing to participate in the study. WaLIDD score and dysmenorrhea severity scoring will be used to determine and assess the dysmenorrhea pain and severity. Treatment sessions will be conducted for 8 weeks, 3 times in a week and each session will be carried out for 20 minutes. At the end of two months, subjects will be assessed for their two menstrual cycles. SPSS 21 will be used for data analysis. After checking normality of data appropriate tests will be applied.