Background and objective: the most common effects of the traumas of incoming to humans are extremities fractures. Patients suffering from fracture require orthopedic cares including orthopedic surgeries; the surgical process causes to increase the incidence of physiological and psychological responses such as anxiety. So applying the progressive muscle relaxation techniques is important for these patients.
Materials and methods: in the present clinical trial study, 80 patients with fracture of lower limbs being eligible for orthopedic surgery were randomly selected by convenient method and randomly were appointed in two control and intervention groups of 40 people. Relaxation technique was done by test group samples before doing the surgery 3 times per day and every shift 10 to 20 times. Before and by discharging patient, the patients’ anxiety was measured by means of the patients’ anxiety questionnaire of Spielberger (STAI). The data were analyzed using statistical independent t-test, paired t-test and Chi square under SPSS 16 software.
Findings: by employing relaxation, the average score for the apparent anxiety before the intervention the intervention group was 47/9±0/7 and 46/4±64/49 in the control group (p = 0/38) and after the intervention it amounts to 48.70±6.59 in the intervention group and 46.4±66.02 in the control group (p = 0.008).
Conclusion: according to the findings, the implementation of progressive muscle relaxation technique can reduce the patients’ anxiety eligible for orthopedic surgery. Due to the limitations of the present study, conducting more researches is recommended in this regard.
