Aromatherapy for Relieving Chronic Pain in Community-Dwelling Older People: a Feasibility Study-Juniper Publishers


Introduction: Chronic pain is a serious problem in the older population. Older people often seek complementary health approaches (CHA) to combat pain. Aromatherapy is a type of CHA with proven pain-relieving effect. This study aims to explore the effectiveness and acceptability of aromatherapy among Chinese community-dwelling older people who suffered from chronic pain.
 A convenience sample of 24 eligible community-dwelling older people in Hong Kong was recruited and randomly assigned to intervention or waitlist control group. The inclusion criteria were as follows: Chinese nationality, aged 60 years or above, cognitively intact, suffered from chronic pain for at least 6 months, and did not receive any complementary therapy over the past 3 months. The subjects received a 20-minute tailor-made aromatherapy massage with three kinds of essential oils (sweet marjoram, lavender, and eucalyptus) with pain relieving effects. The visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to assess pain, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to evaluate the quality of sleep.Subjects in the experimental group exhibited reduced pain level and improved sleep condition after the therapy, even though the differences were not statistically significant. Almost all subjects did not know the type of aromatherapy before the study and agreed that the treatment was suitable for relieving pain in the older generation. Aromatherapy is safe to older people and may relieve chronic pain and improve sleep condition. A larger scale study is recommended to explore the effect of the treatment.

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