Effect of Stretching Exercises on Muscle Cramps for Pregnant Women. | ||
| Journal of Nursing Science Benha University | ||
| Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2025, Pages 227-241 PDF (790.28 K) | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/jnsbu.2025.409148 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Aya Mohamed Ali1; Hedya Fathy Mohy El-Deen2; Huda Abdallah Moursi Afify2 | ||
| 1B.Sc. Nursing, (2016), Menoufia University, Specialist Nursing at Berket El Sabea Secondary Nursing School | ||
| 2Assist. Professor of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Benha University, Egypt. | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Background: Muscle cramps during pregnancy are a common discomfort characterized by involuntary, painful contractions of muscle groups that usually experienced by approximately half of all expecting pregnant women but the majority of muscle cramps during pregnancy occur in the lower extremities particularly in the calf muscles. Aim: To evaluate the effect of stretching exercises program for pregnant women. Design: A quasi-experimental design was utilized in carrying out this study. Setting: The study was conducted at Governmental Health Center (HC) Benha City in Qalyubia, Egypt. Sample: A purposive sample was used; it included 375 pregnant women attended to previous setting for six months. Tools: (Tool I): A structured-interviewing questionnaire to assess studied pregnant women’s which include A) Demographic characteristics, B)Knowledge of pregnant women regarding muscle cramps and stretching exercises, and C) Reported practice for pregnant women regarding applying stretching exercises,(Tool II):Cramp questionnaire chart. Results: 48.8% of the studied pregnant women aged from 20- ˂ 30 years old with a mean age of 31.71±5.40 years, 22.7% of the studied women had good knowledge regarding muscle cramps at pre-program phase compared to 69.0% at post-program phase, also shows that 14.4% of the studied pregnant women had good knowledge regarding stretching exercises at pre-program phase compared to 65.3% at post-program phase and practices regarding stretching exercises demonstrates that 20% of the studied pregnant women had satisfactory practices regarding neck stretching exercise at pre-program compared to 85.6% at post-program respectively. With a highly statistical significant difference between the results of post-program compared to pre-program in favor of post-program regarding all domains of the studied pregnant women' practices (p≤0.001) and 48.0% of studied pregnant women had severe pain at pre-program compared to 14.4% of them at post-program phases. Conclusion: Stretching exercises program succeed to decrease muscle cramps pain among pregnant women and there was a highly statistically significant positive correlation between the studied pregnant women's total knowledge score and all practices domains score at pre and post-program phase with p≤0.001. Recommendation: Continuous health educational program about stretching exercises to relieve muscle cramps among pregnant women. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Muscle cramps; Pregnant Women; and Stretching exercises | ||
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