Determining the exercise dose required to reduce endometriosis symptoms in regional, rural and remote women.

This study will involve a remote 12- week exercise intervention for regional, rural and remote women living with endometriosis. Participants will be allocated into one of four groups: passive control, active control, shorter duration, longer duration. Allocation will be randomized. The intervention is an unsupervised, home-based intervention. Each group will be remotely monitored through their Garmin vivosmart5 watch. Controls: The passive control will involve usual care, the active control group will complete 10 minutes of yoga, three times per week for the 12 weeks. The yoga intervention has been designed by the chief investigator, informed by previous research and assessed by three accredited exercise physiologists (AEPs). The chief investigator (Dr Hartmann) is a qualified yoga instructor, and classes will be filmed and made available on an unlisted YouTube channel, Links will be provided upon enrollment into the study. Exercise groups: The shorter and longer duration exercise groups will complete 10 minutes of yoga, three times per week in addition to a walking intervention. The intensity of the walking intervention will be classified as low to moderate (RPE 9-13 on the Borg 6-20) and is self-paced. Adherence will be monitored through the Garmin Vivosmart5 watch. Participants will be encouraged to walk as fast as comfortably possible for 1 minute, every 5 minutes of their sessions. Shorter duration The shorter duration group will commence at 60 minutes total per week (3 x 20-minute sessions), for 6 weeks. After 6 weeks, the duration will be increased to 90 minutes (3 x 30-minutes per week). Longer duration The longer duration group will commence at 120 minutes per week (3 x 40-minute sessions) for 6 weeks. and progress to after 6 week 150 minutes (longer duration group; 3 x 50-minutes per week) respectively, this will be completed for the remaining 6 weeks. Yoga intervention Participants across three groups (active control, shorter and longer duration walking) will complete 10 minutes of yoga, 3 times per week. The yoga classes will involve a series of poses such as child’s pose, cat-cow, gate pose, reclined butterfly, supine twist, low lunge. The yoga intervention incorporates low intensity hatha and yin yoga poses focused on stretching the lower body.