The effect of progressive muscle relaxation on quality of life and pain intensity in patients with COVID-19 in 2021

Introduction: Some symptoms, such as fatigue and muscle pain remain in patients with COVID-19 after the acute phase of the disease. This reduces the quality of life of these patients. This study aims to evaluate the effect of progressive muscle relaxation on pain intensity and quality of life after discharge from hospital. Methods: The present quasi-experimental study was conducted in 1400 on 96 patients with COVID-19 with complaints of pain in Khoy city. The samples were randomly assigned to control and experiment groups. The intervention was in the form of training muscle relaxation exercises. Data were collected using pain intensity and quality of life questionnaires. Multivariate analysis of covariance test was used to analyze the data in SPSS-26 software. Results: The results showed that pain intensity scores, interference in daily activities in both groups had a decreasing trend and quality of life improvement in both groups had an increasing trend. The effect size for progressive muscle relaxation in reducing pain intensity was 0.65, reducing pain interference in daily activities was 0.71, and quality of life improvement was 0.78, indicating the average effect size of muscle relaxation for all the three components. Conclusion: The findings of this study show that muscle relaxation exercises reduce pain intensity and improve quality of life in patients with COVID-19. Itis suggested that these exercises be used as a complementary method to reduce pain intensity and improve the quality of life of patients.

How can dementia and disability be prevented in older adults: where are we today and where are we going?

Ageing of the population, together with population growth, has brought along an ample increase in the number of older individuals living with dementia and disabilities. Dementia is the main cause of disability in old age, and promoting healthy brain ageing is considered as a key element in diminishing the burden of age-related disabilities. The World Health Organization recently launched the first risk reduction guidelines for cognitive impairment and dementia. According to recent estimates, approximately 40% of dementia cases worldwide could be attributable to 12 modifiable risk factors: low education; midlife hypertension and obesity; diabetes, smoking, excessive alcohol use, physical inactivity, depression, low social contact, hearing loss, traumatic brain injury and air pollution indicating clear prevention potential. Dementia and physical disability are closely linked with shared risk factors and possible shared underlying mechanisms supporting the possibility of integrated preventive interventions. FINGER trial was the first large randomized controlled trial indicating that multidomain lifestyle-based intervention can prevent cognitive and functional decline amongst at-risk older adults from the general population. Within the World-Wide FINGERS network, the multidomain FINGER concept is now tested and adapted worldwide proving evidence and tools for effective and easily implementable preventive strategies. Close collaboration between researchers, policymakers and healthcare practitioners, involvement of older adults and utilization of new technologies to support self-management is needed to facilitate the implementation of the research findings. In this scoping review, we present the current scientific evidence in the field of dementia and disability prevention and discuss future directions in the field.