SHORT-TERM EFFECTS OF DEEP BREATHING AND PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION EXERCISES ON MUSCULOSKELETAL PAIN AND WELL-BEING IN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Summary

Exam stress in high school students, long hours of studying in the static posture, and lack of physical activity habits can cause physical and psychological discomfort in them. This discomfort can be physically seen as musculoskeletal pain, while as psychologically it can be observed as a decrease in well-being. This situation can cause the acute onset of musculoskeletal pain in students to become chronic with a decrease in well-being. On the contrary, we can observe an increase in musculoskeletal pain due to stress that may occur due to a decrease in well-being.

Musculoskeletal pain is a condition that is not fatal but severely impairs health and well-being (1). According to the biopsychosocial model, pain occurs in a complex interaction between biological, psychological and social factors (2). Therefore, pain is both a subjective experience and a physical sensation with large individual differences (3). Relaxation is now a non-pharmacological intervention that has been increasingly accepted in recent years to reduce and cope with pain (4). A person who is relaxed usually has a physical and psychological well-being and feelings of calmness (5). With relaxation exercises, the person starts to reduce anxiety level by coping with stress (6). In addition to relaxation techniques, deep breathing exercise, also known as diaphragmatic breathing, is a technique based on the idea that mind and body integration provides relaxation (7). Breathing exercises are easy to learn and practice and benefit can be obtained from deep breathing exercises performed in a short time (5 minutes of practice may be sufficient) (8). In studies in which both techniques were used separately, it was reported to provide physical and psychological relaxation.

The unique aspect of this study is the investigation of the effects of both techniques on pain and well-being in high school students using both techniques simultaneously.

For this purpose, we planned to investigate the short-term effects of deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation exercises on musculoskeletal pain and well-being in high school students.

Conditions

• Deep Breathing Maneuver
• PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION EXERCISES

Interventions

OTHER

DEEP BREATHING AND PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION EXERCISES

For deep breathing exercises, students were asked to place their dominant hand on their abdomen and non-dominant hand on their chest in the semi-fowler position. Afterwards, they were instructed to breath deeply through their nose for 4 seconds and exhale through their mouth for 8 seconds. These exercises were performed as 4 repetitions with 2 minutes rest time between the exercises. When the deep breathing exercises were finished, the students lay on their backs and rested for 1 minute and then progressive muscle relaxation exercise was started (10,11). For the progressive muscle relaxation exercise, the students were asked to contract and then relax the right foot, left foot, right leg, left leg, hip, abdominal muscles, chest muscles and back muscles, right hand, left hand, right arm, left arm, neck and shoulders, and facial muscles respectively. Respectively, from bottom to top, all the major muscles are contracted while inhaling deeply and slowly, and relaxed and r

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Kırklareli University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

13 Years

Max Age

16 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-10-01

Primary Completion

2024-05-01

Completion

2024-08-01

Countries

• Turkey (Türkiye)

Study Locations