| Abstrakt: |
Background and aim: Prolonged standing at work is associated with several health problems. This study was conducted to investigate the impact of using anti-fatigue mats and footbaths on fatigue and lower extremity pain among operating room nurses. Materials and methods: This study used a single-group prospective quasi-experimental design and involved 32 operating room nurses. Two different interventions were implemented on the nurses at a one-month interval: footbaths and anti-fatigue mats. Before and after the interventions, the severity of foot pain was assessed using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and fatigue was evaluated using the Visual Analogue Fatigue Scale (VAS-F). Results: After using footbaths, a significant reduction in weekly pain intensity was observed in both the right and left feet (p < 0.001; Cohen's d > 0.8). There was no significant decrease in the nurses' fatigue levels in the first week after the footbath (p> 0.05). However, after using anti-fatigue mats, there was a significant and clinically meaningful decrease in the weekly pain intensity in both feet from moderate to mild (Cohen's d: 0.2-0.5). Additionally, weekly fatigue levels significantly and clinically decreased (p<0.001; Cohen's d ≥ 0.8). Conclusions: Although there was no statistically significant difference between the two interventions, all measurement parameters showed favorable results after the footbath application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
