Effects of Ricebag on Skin Interface and Pain in Chronic Back Pain Patients

Abstract

Ricebags have been found to be good alternative therapy in the management of chronic back pain injury. Hence, the objectives of this study were: (1) to determine the difference in temperatures between the ricebag and skin interface, and (2) to determine the effect of heat compression using ricebags to pain sensation in chronic back pain patients. This study used the repeated measure design to achieve its objectives. A total of 40 male (30 experiments, 10 controls) subjects were recruited into the study where the mean age was 34.3 years old (SD = 8.11) and the mean weight was 72.63 kg (SD = 11.2). There was a significant difference in temperature between the ricebags and the hydrocullator (p < 0.05), but there were no significant differences in temperature on the skin interface between the ricebag and hydrocullator (p = 0.716). On the effects of pain sensation, there was a significant difference in visual analogue scale (VAS) within groups for both ricebags and hydrocullator (p < 0.05), but there was no significant difference in VAS between ricebags and the hydrocullator (p = 0.303). In conclusion, ricebags gave similar effects as the hydrocullator on skin interface temperature and a modest improvement in pain perception. Thus, ricebags can be considered as one of the treatment tools in back pain management.