Effect of Ginger Oil Massage on Joint Pain among Elderly Inmates of Old Age Home: A Quasi-experimental Study

Introduction: Joint pain is widespread among elderly and is usually accompanied by stiffness that increases with daily activities. Ginger has been found to have similar properties to Non Steroidal Antii-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) in reducing pain and inflammation associated with musculoskeletal conditions. Aim: To investigate the effect of ginger oil massage on joint pain in elderly inmates in old age homes. Materials and Methods: The study adopted a quasiexperimental one-group pretest post-test design and the study was conducted in the old age home Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, from October 2020 to April 2021. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 30 inmates of an old age home located in Bangalore and having joint pain with a score of >1 on the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) scale. The demographic proforma and the WOMAC were used to collect the data. A skin test was performed, to check for any sensitivity reactions and massage using ginger essential oil diluted in coconut oil was administered on the knee joint on alternate days, for six sessions extending over a period of two weeks. The post-test was assessed after third and final (6th) session of massage. Repeated Measures (RM) Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was computed to determine the difference in pre and post-test WOMAC scores and a significance level of p<0.05 and a confidence interval of 95% was considered to indicate a statistically significant difference. Results: The mean age of the elderly was 69.500±7.505 years with a range 61-82 years. Repeated measure ANOVA demonstrated a significant difference in the second (13.10±5.38) and first post-test WOMAC scores (14.10±6.19) compared to the mean pretest WOMAC score (37.97±12.83) (F=121.14, p<0.001), indicating that ginger oil massage was effective in reducing joint pain among the elderly. Conclusion: Ginger oil massage resulted in the reduction of knee pain and joint stiffness among elderly and therefore, can be a used as an alternative therapy for the elderly with joint pain.