Korean J Rehabil Nurs.  2006 Jun;9(1):25-33.

The Effects of Foot Reflexology on Pain and Depression of Middle-aged Women with Osteoarthritis

• Oh HS
• Ahn SA

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study was to examine the effects of foot reflexology on pain and depression of middle-aged women with Osteoarthritis. METHOD: The subjects were 41 osteoarthritis patients resided in the Jinju city from March to May, 2005. The foot reflexology was applied to the experimental group 3 times a week for 4 weeks, 30 minutes eachs. For the data analysis, chi-square-test was conducted to verify the homogeneity of general characteristics, and t-test was done to verify the homogeneity of pain and depression. To examine the relative efficacy of the intervention, t-test, paired t-test and repeated measures ANOVA were conducted.
RESULTS
After foot reflexology, the subjects in experimental group showed significant improvement in pain (F=155.77, p=.000) and depression (F=20.00, p=.000).
CONCLUSION
The results suggest that the foot reflexology is effective in relieving of pain and depression. Therefore, it is necessary to develop foot reflexology as an independent nursing intervention.

Keyword

Foot; Reflexology; Osteoarthritis; Pain; Depression

MeSH Terms

Depression*
Female
Foot*
Gyeongsangnam-do
Humans
Massage*
Nursing
Osteoarthritis*
Statistics as Topic