Musculoskeletal Pain in Family Caregivers: Does a Therapeutic Physical Program in Primary Care Work? A Randomized Controlled Trial

Federico Montero-Cuadrado, Laura Barrero-Santiago, Rocío Llamas-Ramos () and Inés Llamas-Ramos
Additional contact information
Federico Montero-Cuadrado: Unit for Active Coping Strategies for Pain in Primary Care, East-Valladolid Primary Care Management, Castilla y Leon Public Health System (Sacyl), 47011 Valladolid, Spain
Laura Barrero-Santiago: Unit for Active Coping Strategies for Pain in Primary Care, East-Valladolid Primary Care Management, Castilla y Leon Public Health System (Sacyl), 47011 Valladolid, Spain
Rocío Llamas-Ramos: Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, Faculty of Nursing and Physiotherapy, Universidad de Salamanca, Avda. Donantes de Sangre s/n, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
Inés Llamas-Ramos: Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, Faculty of Nursing and Physiotherapy, Universidad de Salamanca, Avda. Donantes de Sangre s/n, 37007 Salamanca, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 20, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Background: Family caregivers play a crucial role in the overall healthcare system and in our society. The elderly population is significantly increasing, which creates a high demand for family caregivers. Few studies have investigated the impact of caregiving on musculoskeletal pain or proposed an active approach for dealing with it. Objectives: To determine and characterize musculoskeletal pain in female family caregivers (FFCs) and assess the effects of adding a therapeutic exercise program to a family caregiver care program (FCCP) on the quality of life, physical conditions, and psychological well-being of FFCs. Methods: A multicenter randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted with 68 FFCs recruited in two public healthcare areas. The intervention and control groups received the same conventional FCCP for 6 h across 4 sessions. The intervention group received an additional 36 sessions of physical therapeutic exercise (PTE) program over 12 weeks. Results: All caregivers reported having pain in particular locations. Lower back pain and neck pain were the locations most frequently cited, with a prevalence of 69.4% and 56.7%, respectively. In total, 80% of participants presented moderate pain intensity. The intervention group showed a significant decrease in the intensity of the pain ( p < 0.001), as well as in anxiety, depression, subjective burden perception ( p < 0.01), and quality-of-life variables, including MCS (mental component summary) ( p < 0.05) and PCS (physical component summary) ( p < 0.001). Conclusions: A PTE program improved the musculoskeletal pain of FFCs in a clinically relevant way. The caregivers who improved the most were those who initially presented the most intense pain, had the greatest levels of disability, and had the lowest quality of life.

Keywords: caregivers; female; primary healthcare; physiotherapy; pain; exercise (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/185/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/185/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:185-:d:1012301

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().