Effect of Foot Reflexology Massage on Pain and Need for Opioid in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Mastectomy after Radiotherapy: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Because of not applying analgesics in mastectomy candidates and the complications of analgesic therapy in these patients on the one hand and increased pain intensity in patients who undergo mastectomy following radiotherapy on the other hand, the present study aimed to evaluate foot reflexology massage on pain and the need for opioids in breast cancer patients undergoing mastectomy after radiotherapy.

This randomized clinical trial was performed at Imam Reza Hospital, Tabriz, over the 10 months leading up to September 2019. Fifty-four patients (pilot-based estimation) were divided into two groups using a random-numbers table. The intervention group received foot massage every 6 hours (10 minutes per foot) for two days starting 4 hours after discharge. Patients’ demographic information was recorded and pain intensity was measured with a visual analog scale. Chi-square tests, Fisher’s exact test, and an independent t test were used for data analysis on SPSS 21. P < 0.05 was considered significant.

The control (51.29 ± 9.45) and the intervention (52.03 ± 8.96) groups were not different in pain intensity at baseline. However, after the intervention, a statistically significant difference was observed in pain intensity between the intervention and control groups (20.12 ± 6.75 vs 49.88 ± 8.95, respectively, P = 0.003). Also, while there was no difference in pethidine consumption between the intervention (29.99 ± 4.49) and control (29.18 ± 4.50) groups before the intervention, the intervention group experienced a significant reduction in the medicine usage compared with the controls (10.41 ± 4.56 vs 32.12 ± 5.01, P = 0.001).

Foot reflexology massage reduced the severity of pain and the need for opioids in women who are candidates for mastectomy following radiation therapy.