The Effect of Hot Pack and Massage for Pain in Maintenance of Face-Down Posture : An Examination of Healthy Adults Aged 60 Years and Older

Abstract

　The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of hot pack and massage for pain in face-down posture, which is the assumed posture following vitrectomy.
　This experiment was conducted on two groups : hot pack group (12 healthy adult volunteers, 67.3±3.3 years old) and the massage group (12 healthy adult volunteers, 66.5±4.0 years old). The hot pack group had two conditions : only face-down posture and face-down posture plus hot pack. The massage group had two conditions : only face-down posture and face-down posture plus massage. The subjects maintained a face-down posture for 90 minutes. A hot pack with a temperature of about 42 degrees centigrade was applied for 30 minutes beginning 45 minutes after the start of the posture. The massage was performed from the shoulders to the lower back for 10 minutes beginning 45 minutes after start of the posture. Evaluation included a profile of mood states, subjective pain, heart rate, autonomic nerve activity index, and skin temperature.
　This study suggests that hot pack and massage reduced temporary subjective pain in maintenance of face-down posture. Furthermore, hot pack prevented increase of heart rate and blood pressure. Massage also had the effect of reducing heart rate and blood pressure. Hot pack significantly raised the temperature of the shoulder region, which was observed to decrease in maintenance of face-down posture. However, massage did not show an effect similar to that of the hot pack.
　Moreover, this study has shown that the subjective sense and physical response of subjects is highly individual. Therefore, it was suggested that nurses are required to care for the anticipated physical burden of elderly patients in face-down posture following vitrectomy in any case.