Soak feet with warm water and progressive muscle relaxation therapy on blood pressure in hypertension elderly

Background: Hypertension is a silent killer. Each year hypertension contributes to the deaths of nearly 9.4 million people. Non-pharmacological management may use a combination of the therapy of foot soaks in warm water and progressive muscle relaxation. Aim: The purpose of this study was to find out the effectiveness of the combination of the treatment of foot absorbs in warm water and progressive muscle relaxation in blood pressure for the elderly with hypertension. Methods: This study used a quasi-experimental design with the pretest and posttest control group design. The sample is consisting of 2 groups, 20 respondents in each group. Examples were selected by simple random sampling technique. The instruments were observation sheet, standard operating procedure, and sphygmomanometer digital. The data were analyzed using the paired t-test. Results: The mean blood pressures pretest and posttest among control group were 160.70/88.37 mmHg and 160.25/88.67 mmHg. The mean blood pressure pretest and posttest among intervention group were 159.81/85.75 mmHg and 150.31/84.25 mmHg. The decrease in mean pre-posttest systolic and diastolic pressures in the intervention group were -9.50 mmHg and -1.50 mmHg. This study found that the treatment useful to reduce systolic (p0.030) and diastolic (p0.0.41). The comparison of systolic and diastolic blood pressure of intervention with the control group obtained p0.018 and 0.023. Conclusion: The combination of the therapy of foot soaks in warm water, and progressive muscle relaxation is useful for lowering blood pressure. Respondents are expected to apply this treatment as a complementary therapy of hypertension.