Effect of Self Foot Massage by Marble Ball on Numbness Sensation in Diabetes Patients who Followed up in NCD Clinic at Mueang Chonburi Primary Care Unit

Abstract

This study was a one group pre-test post-test design, aimed to investigate the effect of self-foot massage by marble ball on numbness sensation compared before and  after session. This study was conducted in diabetes patients who followed up in NCD Clinic at   Mueang  Chonburi Primary Care Unit. Patients were eligible if they were aged 40-80 years, had one or more deficit of plantar sensation, had no neurological disease or cognitive disability, well-communicated in Thai language, and attended until the end. There were 27 participants in this study.  The question naires  that had validity checked by the experts were used to collect the data. There were 2 part, general information and foot sensation record. We performed foot massage from the designated program and collected the data by interviewing. The data were collected from June, 1^st 2018 to September, 30^th, 2018. The descriptive data were present as number, percentage, means and standard deviation.  Wilcoxon were used to compare foot sensation.

The participants’ characteristic, 67.9%were female, 71.4% aged more than 65 years, 57.1% were married, 82.1% graduated primary school, and 60.7% were not working.  After session, foot sensation significantly improved (p=0.01). The mean score  of right foot before session was 2.78 and after session was 0.70. The mean score of left foot before session was 2.4, after session was 0.64. In conclusion, numbness sensation in both feet  sign  ificantly decreased after massage according to the study hypothesis without complication. Self-foot massage by marble ball can decrease foot numbness so it should be considered to use together with current treatment to reduce the risk of foot ulcer and limb loss.