Hydrotherapy Case Study

ABSTRACT A quasi experimental pretest and post test with control group design was adopted to assess the effectiveness of hydrotherapy in terms of reducing pain and improving functional status among patients with Rheumatoid arthritis in Madurai Arthritis and Rheumatism centre, Madurai,Tamilnadu.Quantitative approach was used to collect data. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 60 samples with rheumatoid Arthritis of which 30 were in experimental and 30 were in control group. Experimental group received nursing intervention(hydrotherapy) for 30 minutes twice a week for 4 weeks and control group received only routine treatment.The data was organized and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics.

Functional status, or the ability to carry out meaningful activities, is affected by pain intensity .So pain and functional status has the negative relationship with each other. Disease or illness will make the patients to decline in their functional status (daily activities) by experiencing severe pain. Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the conditions which causes both the pain and problems in functional status. (Bonnie, 2011) Hydrotherapy is an ancient practice and has been used throughout history as a general tonic and for treating many diseases. Modern hydrotherapy is most often used for muscle and skeletal disorders, including osteoarthritis, joint pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis. Hydrotherapy showed significantly greater improvement in joint tenderness and in knee range of movement in patients with muscle and skeletal disorders. (Jane Hall, 2005) Hydrotherapy is frequently indicated for the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis .The potential benefits of hydrotherapy for patients with rheumatoid arthritis are to improve and/or maintain functional ability and quality of life. It has a positive role in reducing pain and improving the health status of patients with rheumatoid arthritis in the short term.(Good win et al, 2013)

OBJECTIVES OF THE

The reliability of the health assessment questionnaire-disability index was established by split-half method , r = 0.83.

Data collection procedure:

Permission was sought from the ethical committee, informed consent was sought from the patients prior to the data collection procedure. Confidentiality was maintained. Pretest was conducted by collecting the demographic data, the pain level and functional status level of patient in conrol group and experimental group were assessed. Intervention was applied to the experimental group. Each sample underwent 30 minutes hydrotherapy that includes flexion and extension of knee joint, relaxation, flexion and extension of elbow and flexion and extension of fingers inside the warm water which was in 340C temperature twice for 4 weeks. The control group was maintained by regular treatment practices , no hydrotherapy was used during pretest. After 4 weeks of continuous administration, the post-test was done to the both the control and the experimental groups by assessing the pain and functional status level by numerical descriptive pain scale and health assessment questionnaire- disability