Effects of massage therapy and aromatherapy on fatigue in patients with knee osteoarthritis

Abstract

Aromatherapy (Lavender essential oil) significantly reduced fatigue in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Thus, due to the high prevalence of knee osteoarthritis, this method is recommended to patents with osteoarthritis because of its availability, security, and cost-effectiveness.

Comparing the Effects of Massage Therapy and Aromatherapy on Knee Pain, Morning Stiffness, Daily Life Function, and Quality of Life in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis

“…Massage is a maneuver using manual movements that are applied softly to the superficial tissues that can have effects on the nervous, muscular, local, and general circulation, lymph, and respiratory tract, including hand-operated procedures, pressing, rubbing and massaging [9]. Massage effects are remarkable for both reflective and mechanical aspects.…”

“…Massage effects are remarkable for both reflective and mechanical aspects. Mechanical effects improve muscle pumping, stretch in soft tissues, prevent adhesion, increase capillary circulation, increase tissue elasticity, and improve tissue permeability, and its reflective effects include relaxation and opening of blocked capillary circulation and eventually increased blood flow [9, 26]. The results of some studies on the effect of massage on various diseases such as knee osteoarthritis, chronic neck pain, back pain, and muscle cramp pain in hemodialysis patients indicated its positive effect [27, 28].…”

“…Aromatherapy has various physiological, antioxidant efficacy and psychosocial effects [29]. The physiological effects directly exposed the body’s organs, and the psychological effect appears through the sense of smell and stimulates the olfactory system [9]. The mechanism of aromatherapy includes absorbance of the essence volatile molecules from the nasal mucus [30].…”

“…Linalol acts on the gamma-amino-butyric-acid receptors in the central nervous system as a sedative, and linalyl acetate also has a narcotic function [35, 36]. Considering that the use of medication has a lot of complications, it is possible to reduce drug side effects and its costs by using complementary medicine [9]. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the effects of massage therapy and aromatherapy on knee pain, morning stiffness, daily routine function, and quality of life in patients with knee osteoarthritis.…”

Effects of aromatherapy massage on pain, functional state, and quality of life in an elderly individual with knee osteoarthritis

“…Increasing knowledge and experience is very important in aromatherapy and nurses have contributed to this field by investigating the potential effects of aromatherapy and essential fats in several areas, such as gestation, maternal and fetal health, dysmenorrhea, pain, intensive care, cancer, gastrointestinal, nervous, respiratory diseases and mental health (Cho, Min, Hug, & Lee, ; Kim, Nam, & Paik, ; Maddocks‐Jennings & Wilkinson, ). There are studies that have shown that aromatherapy decreases pain, fatigue, anxiety and sleep disorders (Cho et al, ; Kabiri, HasanPour‐Dehkordi, & Deris, ; Kim et al, ; Lee, Choia, Posadzki, & Ernst, ). Studies conducted on elderly individuals have shown that aromatherapy could be applied effectively and safely.…”