An Experimental study to Assess the Effectiveness of Exercises and Relaxation Techniques in Primary Dysmenorrhoea among Unmarried Girls

INTRODUCTION: Reproductive health of women is considered as important and one that has wide spread implications on health. Well being and development of the entire population. Women who fall in the reproductive age group especially adolescent girls are being neglected in reality. There is a consensus among health care providers and researcher that reproductive age group is a period of marked physical, social and cognitive changes (Dawn, 1994). The term Dysmenorrhoea is a Greek word which literally means “Painful Menstruation”. ‘Dys’, meaning difficult / painful/abnormal, ‘meno’, meaning month, and ‘rrhea’, meaning flow. Dysmenorrhoea is classified in to two types, namely Primary and Secondary Dysmenorrhoea. These are abdominal and pelvic pains experienced before and during menstruation. Primary Dysmenorrhoea: It is defined as menstrual pain without pelvic pathology. It tends to occur within 12 months of menarche and it is more common. Dysmenorrhoea is characterized by cramping lower abdominal pain that may radiate to the lower back and upper thighs, commonly associated with nausea, headache, fatigue and diarrhea. Often pain starts shortly before or during the menstrual period, peaks after 24 hours and subsides within two days. Secondary Dysmenorrhoea: It is related to the presence of pelvic lesions such as Endometriosis, adenomyosis and pelvic inflammation. Congenital uterine or vaginal abnormalities like leiomyoma or cervical stenosis can also cause secondary Dysmenorrhoea. The use of Intra uterine device can also cause secondary Dysmenorrhoea. Pain starts a few days before menstruation, usually starts several days after onset of flow. The following risk factors have been associated with more severe episodes of Dysmenorrhoea (Harlow, 1996) 1. Earlier age at menarche, 2. Long menstrual periods, 3. Heavy menstrual flow, 4. Obesity, 5. Positive family history. Primary Dysmenorrhoea is found to be more prevalent among unmarried girls and most of them do not seek proper medical advice for Dysmenorrhoea (Young, Herkim, Innsook Lee 2002). The peak incident of primary Dysmenorrhoea occurs in late adolescence and the early 20s (fraser 1992). The incidence of Dysmenorrhoea in adolescence is reportedly as high as 92% (Anderseh 1982). The incidence falls with increasing age and with increasing parity. The prevalence and severity of Dysmenorrhoea in parous women were significantly lower (Anderseh 1982). The consequences of untreated Dysmenorrhoea were loss of work in college hours and personal family disruption. Therefore Dysmenorrhoea affects not only the untreated person but also affects family, social, national economics as well. A few preliminary studies by scot ransom and Julie molden hauer (April 1998) found that regular exercise can ease some of the pain and stress in the Dysmenorrhoea. Exercise is a great stress buster. It boosts metabolism and circulation. Relaxation is a technique used to relieve stress. Therefore this work is designed to study the role of exercise and relaxation technique program on primary Dysmenorrhoea using pain and severity of Dysmenorrhoea scale as parameters. AIM: To assess the effectiveness of exercises and relaxation techniques on pain and severity in primary Dysmenorrhoea among unmarried girls. OBJECTIVES: 1. To evaluate the effectiveness of exercise and relaxation techniques in primary Dysmenorrhoea among unmarried girls. 2. To determine the changes after the training program. METHODOLOGY: Research Design: Experimental study with same subject design. Study Sample: Study was conducted among the unmarried girls of Prince Ladies Hostel, Ultra College, who reported to have primary Dysmenorrhoea in our initial assessment. Sampling method: A sample of 25 subjects in the age group between 18 – 25 years was selected. Criteria for sample selection: Inclusion criteria: • Unmarried. • Age less than 25 years. • Willing to comply with study protocol. • Primary Dysmenorrhoea. Exclusion criteria: • Secondary Dysmenorrhoea. • Under medication for menstrual related symptoms. • With irregular/infrequent menstrual cycles. • Pelvic inflammatory diseases. • Critically ill health (severe anemic of cardiorespiratory problems). RESULT: This study presented the assessment of effectiveness of Exercise and Relaxation techniques in Primary Dysmenorrhoea for 25 unmarried girls of Prince Ladies hostel. Among the selected participants most of them found to have Primary Dysmenorrhoea with Agonizing, horrible pain and severe Dysmenorrhoea. The study carried out had a correlation with the literature review. The distribution of girls having Dysmenorrhoea with agonizing and horrible pain initially have been shifted to the lower scale (refer figure 2) and girls with severe Dysmenorrhoea has become minimal Dysmenorrhoea (refer Figure 3). The statistical Interpretation of the mean difference and the standard deviation shows a reduction in pain and severity. Test statistic for pain and severity calculated has been compared with the tabulated related t test values. It is found that the calculated test statistic from the recorded value is greater than the tabulated value of 1.71 (refer Table 5 and 6). So we reject Null Hypothesis and accept the Hypothesis saying that there is significant difference in pain and severity following Exercises and Relaxation Techniques in Primary Dysmenorrhoea among unmarried girls. CONCLUSION: The statistical analysis done from the pretest and post test values of VAS and severity scores showed that exercises and relaxation procedure had a significant effect in reducing pain and severity in primary Dysmenorrhoea among unmarried girls.