Assessment of the Effectiveness of Aerobic Exercise Versus Billig’s Exercise Among Nursing Students with Dysmenorrhoea in Selected Nursing Colleges in Bangalore

Abstract

Introduction Dysmenorrhea afflicts millions of women all over the world and is considered the most common gynecological condition in women regardless of age and nationality. The notion that exercise is effective in preventing and treating symptoms has prevailed for many years and led to the promotion of anecdotal belief that exercise is beneficial. Behavioral interventions such as exercise may not only reduce dysmenorrhoea but also eliminate or reduce the need for medication to control menstrual cramps and other associated symptoms. Objectives 1. To assess the perceived levels of pain among dysmenorrhoeic students of Group-A and Group-B before intervention. 2. To assess the perceived levels of pain among dysmenorrhoeic students of Group-A and Group-B after intervention. 3. To evaluate the effectiveness of aerobic exercise in Group-A and Billigrsquos exercise in Group-B. 4. To compare the effectiveness of aerobic exercise Group-A and Billigrsquos exercise Group-B among nursing students with dysmenorrhea. 5. To determine the association of the perceived levels of pain after intervention in aerobic exercise group Group-A and Billigrsquos exercise group Group-B with their selected demographic variables.Methodology The design used in this study was true experimental pre-test post-test research design. The selected settings for the study were nursing students of SJB and RajaRajeshwari College of Nursing Bangalore. The total number of students at SJB College was around 180 and at RajaRajeswari College of Nursing was around 200. Among them 85-95 students in each college were suffering with dysmenorrhoea. Investigator had selected 30 subjects using lottery method from each college. On Day-1 demographic questionnaire checklist and numerical pain scale were used to collect the data. On the same day aerobic exercise was taught for subjects in Group-A at SJB College of Nursing and Billigrsquos exercise for Group-B subjects at RajaRajeswari College of Nursing using computer assisted instruction method. The phone numbers of participants were collected to maintain contact with them. Investigator maintained a record of their menstrual dates and contacted them over phone to remind and motivate them to do exercise during the time of menstruation. The post-test scores were collected once they attained the menstrual cycle and performed the exercise.Results The mean post test scores were calculated in each group and the lsquotrsquo value was calculated. Since the computed lsquotrsquo 5.6 was greater than lsquotrsquo value lsquotrsquo 58 1.96 at 0.05 level it infers the post test score of aerobicnbspnbspexercise group as 12.857 and that for Billigrsquos exercise group as 12.26. Hence it can be concluded that aerobic exercise was as effective as Billigrsquos exercise.Conclusion Aerobic exercise and Billigrsquos exercise can reduce pain in those suffering with dysmenorrhoea and are effective.