The effect of progressive muscle relaxation on nausea and vomiting in pregnant women

Nausea and vomiting is one of the most common problems in pregnancy. Since many researchers have considered the effective role of anxiety or depression in the incidence of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, relaxation probably can decrease nausea and vomiting in pregnant women through increasing the calmness. Therefore, this study was performed with aim to determine the effect of muscle relaxation on nausea and vomiting in pregnant women.
This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 66 pregnant women at gestational age of 6-12 weeks with nausea and vomiting of pregnancy who referred to two selected health centers in Mashhad in 2018. The subjects were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. After holding two sessions of progressive muscle relaxation training within one week for the intervention group, the units performed the exercises for 4 weeks at home. The researcher did not give any training to the control group. The tools used in this study included Rhodes Nausea and Vomiting Index, and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Questionnaire (Dass-21). Data analysis was done using SPSS software (version 25) using Mann-Whitney, independent t-test, repeated measures analysis, and Friedman tests. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
The mean score of nausea, vomiting and gagging and the total score of nausea, vomiting and gagging in the intervention group before the study were 4.6 ± 2.3, 3.2 ± 2.3, 2.7 ± 1.7, and 10.6±5.0, and after the study were 2.8 ± 1.4, 1.8 ± 1.3, 1.6 ± 0.9, and 6 ± 2.8, respectively. In the control group, the mean score of nausea, vomiting and gagging and the total score of nausea, vomiting and gagging before the study were 4.4 ± 2.1, 2.3 ± 2.4, 2.8 ± 1.8, 9.5 ± 1.7, respectively, and after the study were 3.8 ± 1.6, 2.3 ± 1.9, 2.7 ± 2, and 8.8±4.8, respectively. The results of statistical tests showed that the mean score of nausea, vomiting, gagging and total score of nausea, vomiting, and gagging of pregnant women significantly decreased in the intervention group during all stages of measurement (p <0.001); while in the control group, there was no significant decrease in some stages of measurement (p >0.05).
Progressive muscle relaxation can reduce the severity of nausea, vomiting and gagging in pregnant women by reducing anxiety, stress and depression. Therefore, since it has no complications and is convenient to do it, this method is recommended as a way to reduce the incidence of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy.