The effect of progressive muscle relaxation exercise on fatigue and quality of sleep of patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Fatigue and sleep disturbances are common in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. More than 80% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis used a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) form during the course of their illness. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of progressive muscle relaxation exercises (PMR) on fatigue and quality of sleep in patients with RA. Patients were divided into randomized controlled intervention (n=35) and control (n=37) groups. Pre-test was applied to all patients in the groups, Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Until the posttest phase (six weeks later), the control group received routine nursing care and the intervention group received PMR for six weeks. At the end of the sixth week all the illnesses in the groups were reapplied by FSS and PSQI. When compared with the control group values, the sleep quality components, total PSQI and total FSS scores were found to be statistically lower in the intervention group (p <0.05). When the correlation between total PSQI and total FSS was examined, there was a strong positive correlation between the posttest total PSQI and total FSS scores in the intervention group (r=0,658; p=0,001). As a result; PMR has been shown to reduce fatigue in RA patients and to improve the quality of sleep in these patients. Key Words: Progressive Muscle Relaxation Exercise, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fatigue, Sleep Quality