Effect of Progressive Muscle Relaxation on Social Performance and Quality of Life in Aging

Abstract

Objectives With the advancement of medicine and health, people live longer and therefore should be\radapted to physical, mental, and social changes that come with the aging process. Several factors such as\rmobility and exercise affect the aging process; for example, doing regular exercise increases vigor, vitality,\rand life expectancy in older adults. This study aimed to assess the effect of progressive muscle relaxation\ron social performance and quality of life of older adults living in Shahr-e Kord, Iran.\rMethods & Materials This study was a clinical trial. Systematic random sampling was used to enroll the\rstudy samples. In this study, sixty elderly people in Shahrekord City were selected conveniently and the\rsubjects were randomly divided into two groups. Muscular progressive relaxation exercise was run 3\rdays per week for 3 months (totally 36 sessions). In relaxation phase, the study samples contracted a\rgroup of their muscles in each step and relaxed them after 5 seconds and finally loosened all muscles and\rtook 5 deep breaths. Each session lasted for 45 minutes. In general, patients lay on their back after wearing\rgowns and were trained with their coaches by audio tapes. In the meantime, their various muscle\rgroups contracted and relaxed with deep effective breathing. In this way, the participants feel muscle relaxation\rand express it out. The instrument of data gathering consisted of a demographic questionnaires\rand 36-item Short-Form (SF-36) quality of life survey.\rResults Our study results showed that progressive muscle relaxation increased social functioning and\rquality of life in the intervention group. There is a significant difference between experiment and control\rgroups with regard to the mean values of their physical function, activity limitation to physical problems\r, vitality, social functioning, bodily pain, general health, and quality of life. Also, the results showed\rno significant difference in the mean value of social performance between the experiment and control\rgroups prior to the intervention, but there was a statistically significant difference with regard to social\rperformance between the experiment and control groups after the intervention.\rConclusion Based on the study results, it is recommended that exercise and progressive muscle relaxation\rprograms are designed to fit the physical condition of the elderly. These plans are supposed to\rreduce the duration of rehabilitation, hospital stay, and health care costs, as well as improve the social\rperformance, quality of life, and mental states of the elderly, which consequently increase the elderly's\rindependence in daily activities and a healthy and successful aging process.