Effect of muscular relaxation on diabetic children

Abstract

Introduction: From the time that diabetes mellitus was diagnosed, different methods were applied to treat this condition. The most routine ones are administration of insulin, diet therapy and exercise. A recently introduced complementary treatment is progressive muscular relaxation. It is working based on decrease in stress and anxiety among diabetic children. This procedure is vastly carried out by nurses and other health team members in clinical fields.

Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study carried out in Endocrinology Research Center of Esfahan University of Medical Science. The samples included 52 diabetic children aged 7-15 years quite identical in research qualifications to enter the study in two groups of controls and muscular relaxation. The data were collected by laboratory reports (glycosylated hemoglobin), patients' profiles and interviews. Sampling method was random. After selecting the subjects, educational sessions were held for intervention group. In relaxation group, all body parts of the children were contracted and relaxed for 45 minutes just before going to bed for two months. Then, glycosylated hemoglobin was checked. This procedure of relaxation was continued by giving a relaxation cassette to the subjects for home use. The subjects were checked four times through random phone calls to investigate and to be sure that the intervention was precisely followed. Glycosylated hemoglobins were again checked after two months. Descriptive, inferential statistics were used to analyze the data.

Results: The findings showed that mean HbAlc changes in relaxation group was 62.5% while it had a descending trend of 50% in controls. Mean glycosylated hemoglobin before the study in relaxation group was 10.27 while thereafter it was 10.13 (about 14% decline in glycosylated hemoglobin). According to paired t-test, this decline was significant (P=0.036).

Conclusion: Since this technique is economical and effective in decreasing anxiety in diabetic children, it is suggested to be applied as a non-medication intervention in health and treatment clinics.