The Effect of Effleurage Massage Therapy on Symptoms of Osteoarthritis in Elderly Women with Osteoarthritis: A Cross-Clinical Trial

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis is the main and most common cause of pain and disability in older people. It affects women 3.5 times more than men. AIM: Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the effect of effleurage massage therapy on symptoms of osteoarthritis in elderly women with osteoarthritis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was a cross-sectional clinical trial with a control group on 58 elderly women with mild to moderate osteoarthritis in 2018. At the first stage of the study, we give a massage on each knee every day for 15 min a week by the Effleurage method with standard treatment (100 mg diclofenac) and the control group only received standard treatment. At the second stage, the intervention was shifted in groups according to the study type after 3 weeks of washout. The research instrument was a native questionnaire (The Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score [KOOS]). We analyzed data using the SPSS20. RESULTS: The research results indicated that knee massage techniques could reduce the severity of symptoms at both stages of the study in the intervention group. At the first stage, the severity of symptoms in Group A (intervention group) significantly decreased after the intervention compared to the pre-intervention and also decreased after washout in Group B (intervention group) after the intervention compared to the pre-intervention (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Given the effect of massage on reducing symptoms of knee osteoarthritis (morning dryness, stiffness, and swelling,) in elderly women with osteoarthritis, massage therapy is recommended as an effective intervention to reduce symptoms of knee osteoarthritis in these patients.