The Effects of Massage Therapy by the Patient's Relative on Vital Signs of Males Admitted in Critical Care Unit

Background: Changes in vital signs may affect the myocardial oxygen demand. Massage therapy has been used in intensive care units to relive patients' physical and psychological problems. In all of the studies massaging has been done by a nurse and the patients' family did not have any role. Objectives: The present study aimed to examine the effects of massage therapy by patient's relative on vital signs of patients with acute coronary syndrome and acute myocardial infarction. Patients and Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted on 60 male patients hospitalized in coronary care units. In the intervention group, massage therapy was done by one of the patient's male relatives on the third day of admission. The control group only received the routine care. Vital signs were recorded before and after the massage therapy session. SPSS 11.5 software was employed to analyze data using qui-square, Fischer exact test, independent t-test, paired t-test and descriptive statistics. Results: The pre intervention mean of systolic blood pressure of the intervention group were 126.36 +/- 16.80 and changed to 121.70 +/- 13.31 after the massage therapy session (P = 0.021). The mean pulse rate of the intervention group was 79.46 +/- 10.41 and reached 69.30 +/- 9.47 after the intervention (P = 0.001). The mean respiration rate of the intervention group also decreased after massage (P = 0.001). No significant changes were observed in diastolic blood pressure and temperature of the intervention group. No significant changes were observed in vital signs of the control group either. Conclusions: Massage therapy by the patients' relative, decreased systolic blood pressure, pulse and respiration rates of patients admitted in critical care Unite (CCU). Because of the useful effects of those changes, it can be recommended that massage therapy by a member of the patient's family be used to balance vital signs of patients admitted in CCU. This study was registered at Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT). The registration number of the study is IRCT201112048296N1.