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Introduction: Population aging is a problem that has affected most countries in the world. Poor-quality sleep is a common complaint among the elderly. Foot baths are a method of heat therapy and are performed as an independent nursing care in different departments. The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effects of foot baths with spa on improving the sleep quality of the elderly. Methods: This research is a systematic review. We systematically searched six databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, and the World Health Organization databases, to retrieve the related articles based on the keywords used in our search strategy from 2010 to March 2023. Result: Finally, 10 articles were included in this study. All studies were randomized controlled trial (RCTs) and semi-experimental. In all 9 studies, the positive effects of the foot bath were reported. In 9 studies, the effect of foot baths with water above 40 degrees Celsius was reported. The PSQR questionnaire was used in most of the studies. Conclusion: The total findings of this study showed that due to the high prevalence of sleep problems in the elderly, foot baths with warm water can be used as an easy, simple, and safe nursing intervention to improve sleep quality. Therefore, it can be used in nursing homes and hospitals. It is also a non-pharmacological and inexpensive nursing intervention that can be implemented by the elderly themselves after training by community health nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Footbath therapy is effective for health and wellness. We compared the effects of hot water footbaths (HFB), contrast water footbaths (CFB), and warm water footbaths (WFB) using physiological parameters, including blood pressure, calf volume, flexibility, and meridian energy for six weeks. Significant differences in diastolic blood pressure and calf volume were observed from the third to fifth week, and CFB showed the best effect. CFB and WFB demonstrated improvements in meridian energy, while HFB had no effect. These findings highlighted the effectiveness of CFB in managing stress and promoting health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Stroke is one of the most important neurological diseases in the world. Anxiety is one of the most common mental disorders associated with stroke that can disrupt the daily functioning of patients. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of foot baths on physiological parameters and anxiety in patients with stroke. Methods: The present study was a single-blind clinical trial that was performed on 60 patients with stroke admitted to Tohid Hospital in Sanandaj. The available method was used for sampling and the samples were randomly divided into two groups of test and control (30 people in each group). For the patients of the experimental group, between 2 and 5 PM., a foot bath was performed for 15 minutes by a researcher colleague. For patients in both the experimental and control groups, blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, respiration rate, SpO2, and anxiety in the supine position were measured before and half an hour after the intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 19 by the independent and paired t-tests at a significance level of P<0.05. Results: The mean age of the subjects was 60.98±9.53 years. After the intervention in the experimental group, the mean scores of systolic (159.73 vs. 149.87) and diastolic (90.87 vs. 89.03) blood pressures, heart rate (86.47 vs. 85.37), and anxiety (51.8 vs. 48.4) significantly reduced and the amount of SpO2 (96.2 vs. 97.67) significantly increased (P<0.05). Based on the independent t-test, no statistically significant difference was observed between the experimental and control groups in terms of physiological parameters and anxiety (P>0.05). Discussion: Given the importance of the role of nurses in the rehabilitation of patients with stroke, complementary medicine methods, such as foot baths can be considered safe, inexpensive, and uncomplicated methods in patients with stroke to reduce anxiety and improve physiological parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and aim. Edema and pain may occur in the lower extremities due to the long-term standing work of nursing students and the stress they experience. In this study, the aim was to determine the effect of foot baths applied after clinical practice on foot pain and leg edema in nursing students. Material and methods. This randomized controlled study was carried out with second year nursing students. The intervention group received a foot bath (including immersion in water and massage). No intervention was performed on the control group. The data was collected using a survey form, edema follow-up form, visual analog scale, and foot bath equipment. Results. Edema levels in the right tibia decreased statistically on the 1st and 2nd days after the foot bath compared to the values measured after nurses performed clinical practice, while the edema level in the left tibia decreased significantly in the first and fourth weeks (p<0.05). The right and left foot pain scores in the intervention group increased in the evening of the day after the clinical practice compared to before clinical practice, and pain scores decreased statistically significantly after foot bath (p<0.001). The foot pain scores expressed by the students in the first week increased continuously (p<0.001). Conclusion. The study showed that a foot bath performed after clinical practice were effective for easing foot pain and leg edema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Foot baths are used in complementary and alternative therapy to improve the duration and quality of sleep and reduce tension, anxiety, fatigue, and confusion. They are also known to improve the frequency of labor contractions and to increase their duration in women; thus, they are commonly used by midwives in clinical settings in Japan. However, the physical and mental effects of foot baths during labor are unknown. Objective: This study aims to assess the physical and mental effects of foot baths based on biomarker levels and self-administered questionnaires. Methods: A single-arm pre-post test trial design is being used in this study, and the study is being conducted at a general hospital in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. The target study population is women in the first stage of labor, the phase when the uterus starts to contract and when the cervix dilates to 10 cm, or those undergoing labor induction. Participants who meet the eligibility criteria are recruited, and written informed consent is obtained from them. They are asked to answer the questionnaire and to collect 1.5 mL of saliva in 2 microtubes each, before and after the intervention. The intervention is foot baths for 15-20 minutes using a foot bath device. Data on delivery, such as gestational age, gravidity, parity, diagnosis following the last vaginal examination, and presence or absence of membrane rupture, are retrieved from the medical records. The primary outcomes are salivary cortisol levels before and after the foot baths. The secondary outcomes are levels of relaxation and comfort, labor pain, body warmth, vital signs, and interval of labor pain before and after the foot baths, which are assessed using a numerical rating scale. A paired t test or Wilcoxon signed-rank test will be performed to compare the data for salivary cortisol levels and numerical rating scale scores. Results: Data collection started on April 1, 2022. As of October 2022, we had enrolled 10 participants. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, it is difficult for medical personnel to freely interact with women in labor until the results of the COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction test are available in the research facility, complicating the recruitment process. Conclusions: This is the first prospective study to assess the effects of foot baths using a biomarker during the first stage of labor. The findings on the effects of foot baths on women in labor will provide novel insights that may improve the outcomes of delivery. A randomized controlled trial to investigate the effects of foot baths to obtain robust evidence should be conducted in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a nondrug complementary therapy and healthy leisure physiotherapy method, foot bath (FB) is gaining acceptance and popularity in many areas. The significance of this research is to study the close and complex connection between FB stimulation and the human brain using fNIRS neuroimaging techniques. Participants were placed under two different conditions (normal and foot bath) and instructed to perform Stroop task of color word matching. Research on the behavioral results of the subjects showed that FB can effectively regulate the efficiency of humans in the process of performing tasks in a natural state. The fNIRS findings showed that the PFC in the FB condition was weakly activated compared to the normal condition. FB can realize the natural and healthy regulation of human brain cognitive function, which will have an impact on many production activities in human daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the adverse effects of medication we decided to provide a safe, economic, and easy intervention to decrease sleep problems in menopausal women. This trial aimed to determine the effect of footbath on sleep disturbance in postmenopausal women. One hundred menopausal women were randomly stratified using a permuted block randomization procedure by Random Allocation Software, and assigned to one of two study groups: control (without intervention, n = 50) and intervention (footbath, n = 50). The footbath group was asked to lie their feet into the warm water for 20 min in a container with a depth of 10 cm one hour before the usual sleeping time for 6 weeks. To assess sleep quality, we used the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). To evaluate severity of menopause symptoms, the Greene scale was applied. Before the intervention, 96% of the subjects in the footbath group and 94% in the control group were poor sleepers. The results of analysis of covariance showed significant improvement in sleep quality and decrease in severity of menopause signs in the footbath group compared to the control group. At the baseline, there was a statistically significant correlation between the severity of menopause signs and the global score of PSQI in all study individuals (p ≤.001, r =.464). The present study findings showed that footbath intervention enhanced sleep quality in menopausal women. Thus, footbath as a safe, simple, and non‐pharmacological application can improve quality of life in postmenopausal women and inhibit problems due to inadequate sleep quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Labor pain is one of the most severe pains that women experience during the pregnancy period. Inhalation and foot bath are common methods that reduce the pain of labor. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of warm foot bath with inhalation of rose essence and warm foot bath lonely on pain of labor in primiparous women. Materials and Methods: This randomized clncontrolled trial study was carried out on 120 primiparous women who were volunteer for physiologic birth at Shaheed Akbar-Abadi Hospital in Tehran. Conspicuously, the pregnant women were randomly assigned to one of the two intervention groups (warm foot bath with inhalation of rose essence group and warm foot bath group) and control group (routine labor care). Correspondingly, the interventions in both experimental groups were performed for 10 minutes, once at the beginning of the active phase and the second time at the onset of the transition phase. The pain was measured every 30 minutes during the active phase of the labor by using a visual-numerical scale. After collection and extraction of data, statistical comparison was performed using the SPSS software version 16 and p <0.05 was considered significant. The Chi-square, Fisher exact, ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis and Scheffe tests were used as statistical methods. Results: The results at this present study showed that the mean of pain severity were significantly lower in the both interventional groups in comparison to the control group at the beginning of the active phase of labor and delivery (p <0.001). However, the mean of pain severity at the transition phase was lower only in warm foot bath with inhalation of rose essence group in comparison to the both warm foot bath and control groups. Conclusion: Aromatherapy by inhalation of rose essence and foot bath have the positive effects on reducing the pain of labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes mellitus has an impact on increasing blood sugar levels and has a risk of complications of decreased vascularity in the feet which can result in complications in the form of foot ulcers. One of the interventions to facilitate circulation is by therapy of foot soak with a temperature of 40 degrees. Purpose this research to determine the effect of temperature of warm water foot bath temperature 40℃ on peripheral blood circulation with Ankle Brachial Index in diabetes mellitus patients in health center 1 cilongok. This study uses a Quasi-experimental method with one group pretest-posttest approach. Sampling with random sampling technique and a total of 38 respondents with DM. Data was taken by observing ABI measurements before and after warm water foot soak with a temperature of 40℃. Analysis of the data using the Kruskal-wallis test with the Man-Whitney test. Based on the results of the Kruskal-wallis test p value of 0.001 (p value <0.05) there is a temperature effect of warm water foot soak on the peripheral blood circulation with ABI. Conclusion is warm water foot baths effectively improve peripheral blood circulation in DM patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of hand and foot baths on sleep and body temperature of the elderly. Methods: The research was designed for a nonequivalent control group before and after the test design. The subjects of this study totaled 43, aged 65 and over (23 people in hand bath group and 20 people in a foot bath group), who received a written voluntary consent to participate in experimental treatment and are in the W care center, S Nursing Home, and H care center in Seoul. Data were collected with questionnaires and observations, and were analyzed on the basis of frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, χ2-test, Fisher exact test, t-test and paired t-test. Results: There are no significant differences in homogeneity test of a dependent variable between groups (hand bath, foot bath). The differences between 2 groups on the sleep quality score and systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure temperature were not significant statistically except on the pulse. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, hand bath is as efficient as foot bath. Therefore, a hand bath can be a nursing intervention in order to enrich sleep quality for the elderly because a hand bath is more convenient than foot bath. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total 120 cattle with different hoof affections of sole, heel, white line, coronet, abaxial wall as well as interdigital space were surgico-therapeutically managed using foot bath, trimming, antibiotic therapy and application of hoof block. The surgicotherapeutic strategies were evaluated by measuring the lameness score recorded on 10th, 20th 30th and 45th day after treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although warm footbath has been widely enjoyed in many Asian countries, little information is known about its effect on people's thermal responses. This paper experimentally investigated the variations in objective and subjective thermal responses of foot bathers during summer and winter. The subjective thermal responses of foot bathers (12 males and 11 females) were collected by questionnaire, and their body skin temperatures were measured at seven locations. Due to blood circulation, the heat gained from immersed feet could affect other body parts, while the thermal effect of warm footbath varied in different body parts. The results indicate that the footbath could cause marked increases in the thermal sensation of feet, legs and overall body. Participants feel more comfortable at the early stage than other stages during footbath, even though the water temperature is constant. Higher water temperature is expected by the participants to remain footbath comfort. Additionally, noticeable differences in skin temperature and subjective human responses of the male and the female foot bathers were observed. This study demonstrates that the females' foot is more sensitive to warm footbath than those of males. It can be concluded that warm footbath contributes to more satisfaction of thermal environment especially in winter and that males were likely to be more acceptable with footbath than females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Objective: To observe the effect of foot bath and massage on insomnia in patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods: By control design of retrospective nonconcurrent cohort study, 100 insomnia patients with liver cirrhosis admitted and treated in our clinic between October 2011 and September 2012, were recruited in the control group and given routine nursing of internal medicine. A total of 105 insomnia patients with liver cirrhosis, admitted and treated between October 2012 and September 2013, were recruited in the intervention group and given foot bath and massage on the basis of routine nursing of internal medicine. After continuous intervention for 14 d, the clinical effects and the nursing satisfaction were evaluated. Results: There were statistically significant differences in clinical effects and sleeping quality between the two groups ( P<0.05, P<0.01). The therapeutic effect was better in the intervention group than in the control group, and the nursing satisfaction was remarkably higher in the intervention group than in the control group ( P<0.05). Conclusion: Foot bath and massage can obviously reduce insomnia in the patients with liver cirrhosis, improve the sleeping quality, and effectively elevate the nursing satisfaction of the patients, and are worthy of clinical popularization and application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we aim to evaluate the efficiency and safety of traditional Chinese medicine foot bath combined with acupoint massage for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. A total of eight online databases were searched to collect studies published up to February 2019. Study quality of each included article was evaluated by the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses were conducted based on the Cochrane systematic review method by using the RevMan 5.3 software. Traditional Chinese medicine foot bath combined with acupoint massage was the main therapy in experimental group. Interventions in control groups include western medicine, oral traditional Chinese medicine, other symptomatic treatment of western medicine, and blank control. Primary outcomes in this study include sensory nerve conduction velocity (SNCV), motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV), total effective rate, and neuropathic syndrome score. Finally, 31 trials involving 3284 participants were included. The results of systematic reviews and meta-analyses showed that traditional Chinese medicine foot bath combined with acupoint massage was significantly better compared with the control groups in terms of the total effective rate, SNCV, MNCV, and neuropathic syndrome score. No case of adverse effect was reported. These findings show that traditional Chinese medicine foot bath combined with acupoint massage may be safer and more effective for the treatment of DPN. However, due to the low methodological quality, further research with randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of higher quality is required to prove its efficacy and better evidence for clinical treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]