ISSN 2756-3332
African Journal of Nursing and Midwifery ISSN 2198-4638 Vol. 5 (6), pp. 727-735, June, 2017. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
A study of the effect of heat application on relieving dysmenorrheal pain among young females
*Khalil Ouda1, Sameh Latif2 and Tayea Nabil2
1Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine, Fayoum University, Al Fayoum, Egypt.
2Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Banha University, Banha, Egypt.
Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Accepted 12 July, 2016
Abstract
Primary dysmenorrhoea is considered the most common gynaecologic disorder among young females. Primary dysmenorrhea is defined as painful and difficult menstrual flow in the absence of any pelvic disorders. The study was carried out to examine the effect of heat application on relieving pain of primary dysmenorrea, examine the effect of stretching and core strengthening exercises on relieving pain of primary dysmenorrhea, compare between heat application and stretching and core strengthening exercises on relieving pain of primary dysmenorrhea among young females. Quasi experimental design (randomized controlled trial design) was used to conduct this study. The subjects included in the study were between 18-25 years with primary dysmenorrhea selected from female girls at faculty of Nursing, Menoufia University. Three tools were used in this study; tool one: interviewing questionnaire which include; socio-demographic data, menstrual history. Tool two; assessment of dysmenorrheal symptoms. Tool three; the numeric pain rating scale (NRS) assessing pain of dysmenorrhea before and after intervention. Simple random sample was used to select the participants of this study, total sample was 150 females. There was no statistical significance difference between the three studied groups regarding pain scores before intervention but there was a highly statistical significance difference between them after intervention (after use in the same menstrual cycle, second cycle and after third cycle ( p=<0.001**, <0.001** and<0.001**) respectively. Stretching and core strengthening exercises (Group B) was more effective in reducing pain of dysmenorrhea as compared with heat application (Group A). Heat application and stretching and core strengthening exercises help in decreasing the intensity of pain of dysmenorrhea in group A and B than group C (control group). Stretching and core strengthening exercises was more effective in reducing pain of dysmenorrhea than heat application. Health education of young female girls about the importance of the use of heat application and physical exercises to relieve pain of primary dysmenorrheal is recommended.
Keywords: Menstrual cycle, primary dysmenorrhea, pain score, heat application, stretching and core strengthening exercises.