Effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation technique on physical symptoms among patients receiving chemotherapy.

Cancer killed 5,56,400 people in the country in 2010 accounted for 8% total deaths. Chemotherapy is the treatment of choice for cancer patients but it is assisted with many side effects. The present study aimed to assess the effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation technique on physical symptoms among cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. A modified graphing rating scale was used to assess nausea, common toxicity criteria for assessing vomiting, standardized 0-10 numeric pain rating scale were used to collect the data from a sample of 60 cancer patients receiving chemotherapy admitted in selected hospital of Amritsar, Punjab. 30 patients in experimental group and 30 patients in control group were selected using purposive sampling technique. In the present study Progressive Muscle Relaxation Technique is used as intervention. The results of the study showed that progressive muscle relaxation technique is highly effective in reducing the physical symptoms among cancer patients receiving chemotherapy in experimental group.The results of the study showed highly significant difference in pre-interventional and postinterventional physical symptoms of experimental and control group. Hence, it was concluded that progressive muscle relaxation technique is effective in reducing the physical symptoms due to chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]