The effect of progressive muscle relaxation on the quality of life among patients with heart failure

Heart failure affects the patients’ quality of life more than other chronic diseases. Drugs and non-pharmacological treatments can be used to improve the patients’ quality of life. One of the most common non-pharmacological treatments is progressive muscle relaxation and in this study, its effect on quality of life in patients with heart failure was studied. In this clinical trial, 70 patients were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups and completed demographic questionnaires and MLHFQ. After 5 sessions of progressive muscle relaxation training in the experimental group and one month follow up, the questionnaires were completed again. Chi-square, independent and paired t-test were used for data analysis in SPSSver24. Mean score of quality of life before the intervention was 49.4 in the control and 54.68 in the test group, which was not significantly different. After intervention, mean score of quality of life reached to 52.57 in the control and 47.25 in the test group. Significant decrease in the score of quality of life in the test group after intervention, compared to pre-intervention, showed improvement in quality of life and the useful effect of intervention on improving patients’ quality of life. Progressive muscle relaxation caused a significant improvement in quality of life than the control group (loss of quality of life). Therefore, it can be concluded that progressive muscle relaxation is effective in improving the quality of life among patients with heart failure.