A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Acupressure on Pain Among Clients With Knee Osteoarthritis in Selected Old Age Homes at Thiruvannamalai District

Abstract

Background: Osteoarthritis is a chronic degenerative joint disorder having a significant economic impact on our health system. Osteoarthritis is known to be most frequent in the lower extremity, especially the knee joint. Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of acupressure on pain among clients with knee Osteoarthritis. Design: Quasi experimental Non-equivalent pre- and posttest design was adopted for the study. Setting: Selected Old age homes at Thiruvannamalai. Participants: 30 clients with fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected by convenient sampling. Methods: A pretest was conducted by using Visual Analog Scale. Immediately after pretest acupressure was provided one time a day for 5 days and 6th day posttest was conducted to assess the effectiveness of acupressure. Collected data were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: In control group, the mean score of the sample was 5.8 (SD=0.68) and the experimental group mean score was 3.9 (SD= 0.21) with paired ‘t’ value 6.41 and unpaired ‘t’ value 3.41. This showed that the acupressure was effective in enhancing the practice of the sample regarding pain perception on knee osteoarthritis. There was a statistically no significant association found between the posttest scores of the sample with their demographic variables. Conclusion: The findings imply the need for educating clients on effective management of pain on Osteoarthritis. Acupressure is a non-pharmacological, cost effective and simple intervention without any adverse effects. The results proved that the acupressure was effective in reducing the pain among clients with knee osteoarthritis.