European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Literature proves that various sets of intradialytic stretching exercises are a useful strategy for preventing and treating muscle cramps during hemodialysis. Hence, the researcher decided to evaluate the effectiveness of a set of intradialytic stretching exercises on the reduction of muscle cramps among patients undergoing hemodialysis at a selected hospital, Navi Mumbai. The research design used for the study was a quasi-experimental one-group pretest and post-test group design. A non-probability purposive sampling technique is used to select 50 samples according to the inclusion criteria. The same samples are used in both experimental and control groups at two different times. Intradialytic stretching exercises were performed when the respondents suffered from muscle cramps during hemodialysis. The muscle cramp was assessed with the help of a Numerical Pain Scale, a Modified Ashworth Scale, and a Penn Muscle Cramp Frequency Score.The study results reveal that the mean difference between the experimental and control groups is as follows: the numerical pain score is 1.14, the modified Ashworth score is 3.98, and the Penn muscle frequency score is 0.66. Wilcoxon's signed-rank test scores for each scale are 6.459, 6.249, and 5.291, respectively, which is significant at 5% with a p-value of 0.000. Hence, intradialytic stretching exercises are effective in the reduction of muscle cramps during hemodialysis compared to the control group of respondents.