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The influence of foot and back massage on blood pressure and sleep quality in females with essential hypertension: a randomized controlled study

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 35, pages 627–637 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the influence of foot and back massage on blood pressure and sleep quality in females with essential hypertension. Non-pharmacologic methods like massage may be effective for balancing blood pressure and solving sleep problems. This is a randomized controlled study conducted in accordance with CONSORT rules. Females with essential hypertension were applied a total of six sessions of 30 min of foot and back massage twice weekly during 3 weeks. The study included a total of 90 patients of whom 60 were in intervention group (foot massage group, back massage group) and 30 in control group. Data were collected through personal data form (PDF) which included descriptive characteristics, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Six sessions of foot massage and back massage were detected to lead to a reduction in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) values and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.001). A strong statistical difference was found between mean pretest posttest scores of overall and sub-dimensional scores of PSQI in females in intervention group (p < 0.001). Foot and back massage was found to be effective in reducing blood pressure and improving sleep quality.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks for all the researchers and participants in this study. The present study was supported by Erciyes University Scientific Researches Projects Unit (project code: TDK-2017-6909).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Diseases Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey

    Gürcan Arslan & Mukadder Mollaoğlu

  2. Department of Internal Diseases Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey

    Özlem Ceyhan

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  1. Gürcan Arslan
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  3. Mukadder Mollaoğlu
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Contributions

GA and OC contributed to study design. GA carried out the data collection. GA, OC, and MM carried out the data analyses. GA, OC, and MM involved in the paper preparation. All authors have read and approved the final paper.

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Correspondence to Gürcan Arslan.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Academic council and ethics committee approval were obtained from Erciyes University Medical School (2016/424). The patients included in the study were informed about the study and their verbal and written informed consent was obtained.

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Arslan, G., Ceyhan, Ö. & Mollaoğlu, M. The influence of foot and back massage on blood pressure and sleep quality in females with essential hypertension: a randomized controlled study. J Hum Hypertens 35, 627–637 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-020-0371-z

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