The Effects of Foot Reflexology on Sleep Quality, Pain and Muscle Strength in Community Dwelling Female Elderly

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of footreflexology as a nursing intervention, on sleep quality, joint pain, and muscle strength among female elders living in the community.

A quasi-experimental study was conducted using pre-posttest design. Participants were 35 female elders (aged 65 and over), allocated to control group (n=18) and experimental group (n=17). Thirty minute foot reflexology intervention was implemented three times per week for 4 weeks fora total of 12 sessions. Sleep quality, joint pain, and muscle strength weremeasured at baseline, after 2weeks, and at the completion of the 4-week intervention. Using SPSS WIN 14.0, independent t-tests was used for homogeneity and paired t-testswere conducted to analyze effects of the intervention.

Statistically significant differences emerged in all dependent variables. The scores for sleep quality in the experimental group increased by 8.76±3.98 after 4 weeks (t=-4.97, p=.000). The joint-pain level of the experimental group decreased by 7.18±3.64 after 4 weeks (t=4.471, p=.000). The scores of the experimental group for leg-muscle strength increased by 11.71±2.64 after 4 weeks (t=14.60, p=.000).

The findings suggest that foot reflexology was effective for female elders, improving sleep quality, reducing joint pain, and increasing muscle strength. As a nursing intervention, good use of foot reflexology would be a good health-promotion strategy for female eldersin the community.