Evaluation of the effect of myofascial release techniques on pain and general health status in primary dysmenorrhea

Objective: This study was planned to evaluate the effect of myofascial release techniques on pain and general health status in primary dysmenorrhea. Methods: Eighty individuals were included in the study between 18-25 years of age with primary dysmenorrhoea. After the demographic information of the first menstrual cycle pain of all the patients was obtained, the pain was assessed with Numeric Pain Scale and general health status was assessed with General Health Questionnaire. After the assessment, the individuals were divided into two groups. Myofascial release techniques were applied to the experimental group in the second menstrual cycle. No treatment was applied to the control group. Evaluations were repeated after practice. Results: Eighty individuals with a mean age of 21.17 ± 1.65 years participated in the research. When the first and second menstrual cycles parameters were compared between the groups, it was determined that the parameters of pain and general health status were showed a significant improvement in the experimental group (p<0.05) but no significant difference was found in the control group (p>0.05). Conclusion: Myofascial release techniques have been found to be effective in reducing the pain of individuals and affecting overall health status in primary dysmanorrhea. We believe that our study will shed light on the use of the myofascial release technique in the wider field and the standard procedure for dysmenorrhea treatment. We also think that our study will contribute to the literature in terms of relief of dysmenorrhea, reduction of drug use, development of conservative treatment of dysmenorrhea and improvement of women's health.