The Effect of Alpinia Galanga Warm Compress in Reducing Rheumatoid Arthritis Pain Intensity in the Elderly: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Abstract

Backgrounds: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease that causes inflammation and swelling
of the synovial membrane. In patients with advanced stages, it will make the patient unable to carry out daily
activities and his quality of life decreases.The study at to know the effect of Alpinia Galanga Warm Compress in
Reducing Rheumatoid Arthritis Pain Intensity in the Elderly.
Methods: The method of the research was used quasi experiment by using one group pre-test and post-test
design without control group. This study was conducted on 45 patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis in Guna Bakti
Foundation in Medan, Indonesia. The research process began with measuring the intensity of pain in all of patient
using an observation sheet and numerical pain intensity scale before being given a warm galangal compress
(pretest), then a warm galangal compress was carried out for 20 minutes, after which it was measured again (posttest) the intensity of the pain scale.
Results: Based on the results of the study, 80% of respondents experienced a decrease in the Rheumatoid arthritis
pain scale as a result of giving warm galangal compresses. From the significance value of the Wilcoxon test results
obtained p-value <0.001 which value is smaller than the error level (α) 0.05 or with a significance of 95%, then the
hypothesis Ho is rejected while Ha is accepted. The conclusion of this study is the effect of Alpinia galanga warm
compress in reducing rheumatoid arthritis pain (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Galangal warm compresses are effective in reducing Rheumatoid Arthritis pain. Therefore, such
interventions are recommended for these patients.