The Effect of Effleurage Knee Massage Therapy on Quality of Life in Elderly Women with Osteoarthritis

Abstract

Background: Aging is a feminine phenomenon, and the quality of life is less in elderly women than in elderly men due to chronic diseases being two times more prevalent. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of knee massage on the quality of life of elderly women with osteoarthritis. Methods: The present study is a crossover clinical trial of 58 elderly women with mild to moderate osteoarthritis in two intervention and examination classes and two pre-wash and post-wash phases. In the first phase of the study, we gave a massage on each knee every day for 15 minutes a week using the effleurage method with standard treatment (diclofenac 100 mg), and the control group received only standard treatment. In the second phase, the intervention was shifted into groups according to the study type after 3 weeks of washout. We analyzed the data using SPSS 20 software. Descriptive statistics were used to describe quantitative and qualitative variables, and independent and paired t-tests were used to judge the effect of the intervention. The independent t test was also used to evaluate the effects of time and treatment. Results: In the first phase of the study, the independent t test results showed no significant difference between the quality of life scores in the two groups before the intervention (P<0.452); however, after the intervention, the quality of life was significantly higher in group A (the group receiving massage) than in group B (the group receiving standard treatment) (P<0.001). In the second phase of the study, the independent t-test results showed no significant difference between the two groups before the intervention (P<0.32); however, after the intervention, the quality of life was significantly higher in group B (the group receiving massage in the second phase of the study) than in group A (the group receiving standard treatment in the second phase of the study) (P<0.001). Conclusion: Results showed that conducting one-week massage therapies would enhance the quality of life of women. This finding was validated based on the sectional design and group replacement results, considering the value of quality of life in the elderly. As a result, using massage therapy is recommended as a low-risk, low-cost, and non-pharmacological method in old age.