Immediate effect of Kaki Mudra on pupillary light reflex among healthy individuals – A study protocol of a Randomized control trial

Abstract

Abstract Background Kaki Mudra is a yogic gesture that involves nasikagara drishti focusing on the nose tip without the eyes blinking and pursing the lips, which form beaks during inhalation, and exhaling slowly through the nose. However, there is a lack of evidence on the impact of kaki mudra on cardiovascular changes and autonomic function using pupillary light reflex (PLR). Methods A randomized control study design will be adopted for this study with 80 healthy participants with more than 18 years of age, will be recruited. Subjects will be randomly divided into the study (n = 40) and control groups (n = 40). The study group will be advised to practice Kaki Mudra for 20 min, whereas the control group will be asked to relax in sitting posture for 20 min. Results The baseline and post-assessment will be immediately evaluated for all the individuals; five leads to ECG for heart rate variability (HRV) and dynamic pupillometry for PLR. Discussion The immediate effect of kaki mudra is an effective and simple technique that might improve HRV and PLR variable, which may improve overall health and enhance parasympathetic dominance among healthy participants. The study is prospectively registered in the Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI/2024/05/067289).