Abstract

Background and Aim: Hospitalization of traumatic patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and their critical condition can cause haemodynamic instabilities and deterioration in the level of consciousness. The study aimed to investigate the effect of whole body massage on the vital signs, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores and arterial blood gases (ABG) in trauma ICU patients. Materials and Methods: In a randomized, double-blind trial, 108 trauma ICU patients received whole body massage experimental group (n=54), or routine care control group (n=54). The patients vital signs; systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), respiratory rate (RR), pulse rate (PR), Temperature (T), GCS score and ABG parameters were measured by a nurse at the same time in both groups before the intervention and 1 hour and 3 hours after the intervention with a checklist. The patient in experimental group received full body massage in 45 minute by a family member. Results: According to the findings, significant differences were observed between experimental and control groups in SBP 1 hour and 3 hours after intervention (p<0.001), DBP, RR and PR 1 hour after intervention (p<0.001) and GCS 1 hour and 3 hours after intervention (p<0.05). Of ABG parameters, significant differences were observed between experimental and control groups in O-2 saturation (p<0.001), PH (p<0.001) and pO(2) (p<0.05). No significant differences between experimental and control groups in Temperature, pCO(2) and HCO3 (p>0.05). Conclusion: With respect to this study, massage therapy is a safe and effective treatment in intensive care units to reduce patient's physical and psychological problems. Therefore the use of massage therapy is recommended to clinical practice as a routine method.