A Study To Assess The Effectiveness Of Hot Water Fomentation With Epsom Salt And Plain Hot Water Fomentation Among Elderly Clients With Knee Joint Pain At Selected Old Age Homes Of Amritsar

Abstract

Introduction: Knee joint pain is a major problem which affects the knee joint. Knee joint pain occurs due to many reasons like knee fracture, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteomyelitis, osteoporosis, etc. It starts from any bone of the knee, i.e. femur, tibia, and fibula, kneecap (patella), ligaments and cartilage (meniscus) of the knee. Most of geriatric people get affected by chronic knee joint pain, and knee joint pain interrupts daily activity of life like walking, sitting, standing, lifting the object, etc. Objectives: The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of hot water fomentation with Epsom salt in experimental group I and plain hot water fomentation in experimental group II. Methods: Research approach was used as randomized controlled trial research design one-group pre-test and posttest. The target population for the study was elderly clients. The total samples under the study were 60 elderly clients. The data were collected by using Numeric Pain Rating Scale which was designed to assess the effectiveness of hot water fomentation with Epsom salt and plain hot water fomentation among elderly clients with knee joint pain. The results were described by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Findings of pre-test revealed that majority of elderly clients, i.e. 14 (46.7%), have moderate pain, 11 (36.7%) have severe pain, 3 (10) have mild pain, 2 (6.7%) have worst pain in experimental group I; and 16 (53.4%) have severe pain, 10 (33.3%) have moderate pain, 3 (10%) have worst pain, 1 (3.3%) has mild pain in experimental group II pain score regarding knee joint pain among elderly clients. The findings of post-test revealed that majority of elderly clients, i.e. 16 (53.3%), have moderate pain score, 12 (40%) have mild pain, 2 (6.7%) have mild pain in experimental group I; and 19 (63.3%) have moderate pain, 9 (30%) have severe pain, 2 (6.7%) have mild pain in experimental group II pain score regarding knee joint pain among elderly clients. The findings related to effectiveness of hot water fomentation with Epsom salt and plain hot water fomentation among elderly clients with knee joint pain depicts that the post-test score was 2.00 and the non-paired t-test value obtained was 4.5; it was highly significant at 0.05 level of significance. This shows the effectiveness of hot water fomentation with Epsom salt and plain hot water fomentation. Chi-square test revealed that there was a statistically significant association between post-test score of experimental group I and experimental group II with their demographic variables. Conclusion: From the result of the study, it was concluded that hot water fomentation with Epsom salt and plain hot water fomentation were effective in reducing knee joint pain among elderly clients. Therefore, the investigator felt that more importance should be given for hot water fomentation with Epsom salt and plain hot water fomentation for reducing knee joint pain among elderly clients.