The effects of Progressive Muscle Relaxation and Guided Imagery on gestational hypertension

Hypertension is a common disorder in pregnancy. Although this disorder is accompanied by many difficulties in pregnancy, no effective therapy has still been found to treat it. One of the main methods in the treatment of hypertension is stress reducing programs such as relaxation and Guided Imagery. This study is aimed to evaluate the effects of progressive muscle relaxation and guided imagery on the gestational hypertension.
The present study is a randomized clinical trial in gestational hypertension patients undergoing in Kosar hospital, Qazvin, Iran. 80 patients were selected after obtaining the informed consent by convenience method and randomly allocated in intervention and control groups. The intervention group received physical and mental relaxation for eight weeks, twice a week. Blood pressures were measured before and after the relaxation sessions for the intervention group and the control group blood pressure were measured twice a week after 15-minute rest. Data were collected by a check list and were analyzed by SPSS v20. Statistical testes such as T-test, chi squares, Mann–Whitney and repeated measure were used for analysis.
The mean age of participants was 31.21±7.25 years. The results indicated that the physical and mental relaxation significantly decreased the systolic and diastolic (131.00±2.02,80.37±1.37 mmhg) blood pressure in the intervention group compared by the control group(150.08±0.67,97.02±0.75 mmhg)(p=0.000).
According to the results, physical and mental relaxation is effective on the decrease of the systolic and diastolic blood pressure during pregnancy and it is suggested as a treatment for gestational hypertension.