Effectiveness of Warm Water Therapy on Back Pain in Pregnant Women

Introduction: Back pain during pregnancy is a pregnancy issue that has become a phenomenon worldwide today. Back pain during pregnancy is caused by hormonal, musculoskeletal, and stress changes. Back pain during pregnancy, if not addressed, will affect the quality of life and daily activities of pregnant women. Management of back pain during pregnancy can include pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches. Non-pharmacological management of pain includes warm water therapy. Warm water therapy provides relaxation effects, vasodilation of blood vessels, elimination of unused metabolic waste, and reduction of muscle spasms. Methods: This study aims to identify the effectiveness of warm water therapy on back pain in pregnant women in the working area of Puskesmas Lubuk Alung. This research is a quantitative study with a non-equivalent quasi-experimental design using a one-group pre-test and post-test design. The sample of pregnant women experiencing back pain consisted of 17 individuals using a purposive sampling technique. The research instrument used in this study is the Visual Analog Scale. This research was conducted over a period of 2 months. Results: Statistical tests using the paired t-test on back pain before and after the intervention yielded a p-value = 0.000 (<0.05), indicating a significant effect of warm water therapy on back pain. The effectiveness value was assessed using the eta-squared test, where the eta value was 0.821 (>0.14). This result indicates a strong effectiveness of warm water therapy on back pain during pregnancy. Conclusion: The results of this study can be used as a reference for addressing back pain during pregnancy. It is hoped that there will be further research on other non-pharmacological techniques for back pain during pregnancy.