Can resistance training improve the symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome?

Paraskevi Pericleous; Savvas Stephanides

doi:10.1136/bmjsem-2018-000372

Can resistance training improve the symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome?

BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2018 Aug 21;4(1):e000372. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2018-000372. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Paraskevi Pericleous¹, Savvas Stephanides¹

Affiliation

¹ Health eResearch Center, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.

Abstract

Objectives: It has been suggested that the symptoms of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) could be improved by resistance training.

Design: This review focuses on identifying studies that use resistance training to examine how it can affect the symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Methods: Medline, Cochrane, Dare and PubMed databases were searched to find relevant articles. All studies were assessed in terms of their design and methods.

Results: We found 10 studies that used resistance training to examine how it affects the symptoms of PCOS.

Conclusions: There is a need for further investigation. Most studies that examine the effects of resistance training on the symptoms of PCOS needed to consider the diet (macronutrient) of the participants along with the resistance training to have a better picture of how resistance training can affect the PCOS symptoms. Many questions are still unanswered.

Keywords: BMI; PCOS; diet; exercise; strength training; weight training.