The Investigation of the Effect of Foot Massage on the Functionality of Older Adults After General Surgery

Pain, delirium, kinesiophobia, balance, mental level, and mobility are factors that express functional level in elderly individuals. It is especially important to regain at least the previous functional level after surgery. Although there are protocols and evaluation methods for returning or regaining the functional level after certain surgeries (for examples orthopedic surgeries such as knee or hip and cardiovascular surgery), admission to the discharge or rehabilitation program, especially after abdominal surgeries within the scope of general surgery. There is no protocol or evaluation method in the literature for the evaluation of situations such as In the studies, it was seen that scales were developed to evaluate the morbidity rate rather than the functional level after general surgery. Therefore, the evaluation of the functional level after surgery will be one of the important steps taken for the discharge or rehabilitation process to start as soon as possible. However, with the applications to reduce the high rate of kinesiophobia, the duration of discharge can be shortened, and rehabilitation can be started more quickly if necessary. With this study, the functional levels of the patients hospitalized in the general surgery service will be evaluated and the effect of foot massage on the functional level will be investigated. With this study, the effectiveness of foot massage on the functional level will be investigated in individuals with high post-surgical kinesiophobia, which is expected to be the first in the literature.

Our hypothesis (H0) is that foot massage after surgery has no effect on the functional level. Our H1 hypothesis is that foot massage has an effect on the functional level.

In light of the above information, in this study, a foot massage (Swedish massage) lasting 20 minutes in total, will be applied to the feet of the patients in the post-surgical service once a day, bilaterally, until discharge. Pain, mental level, delirium status, mobility, kinesiophobia, balance, and functional independence level measurements of the individual will be repeated before and after the massage.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of massage on the functional level of elderly individuals in the postoperative period. The study will be carried out between July 2022 and October 2022 in a randomized controlled manner in individuals aged 65-75 years in Kocaeli University Research and Practice Hospital general surgery clinic.