Lifestyle Intervention for Reducing Leg Cramps among Pregnant Women

Eman Nabil Ramadan^1, , Samah Abdelhaliem Said², Nehad Ahmed Zahra¹ and Mervat Gaber Zaghloul³

¹Community Health Nursing, Benha Faculty of Nursing, Egypt

²Obstetrics and Woman Health Nursing, Benha Faculty of Nursing, Egypt

³Maternity, Obstetrics and Gynecological Nursing, Port-Said Faculty of Nursing, Egypt

Cite this paper:
Eman Nabil Ramadan, Samah Abdelhaliem Said, Nehad Ahmed Zahra and Mervat Gaber Zaghloul. Lifestyle Intervention for Reducing Leg Cramps among Pregnant Women. American Journal of Nursing Research. 2019; 7(3):228-237. doi: 10.12691/ajnr-7-3-1

Abstract

Background: Leg cramps are a common discomfort during pregnancy account 30-50% of pregnant women. Lifestyle intervention help in reducing symptoms and discomfort associated with leg cramps. Aim: Was to study the effectiveness of lifestyle intervention for reducing leg cramps among pregnant women. Research Design: A quasi-experimental design was used. Setting: This study was conducted in Outpatient Clinic at Obstetric and Gynecological Department affiliated at Benha Teaching Hospital. Sampling: A purposive sample of 212 pregnant women having leg cramps and divided into study and control group. Tools: Three tools were used for collecting data; 1) A structured interviewing questionnaire; it includes four parts personal characteristics of studied women, past and current obstetric history, leg cramps history, and studied women's knowledge. 2) Modified Healthy Life Style Assessment Scale. 3) Visual analogue Scale. Results: showed that the mean age in the studied group and control group were 27.06±6.45 & 26.98±7.43 respectively. And secondary education is the education level of the large proportion of both study and control group 49.1% & 57.5% respectively, there was highly significant differences between two groups in all items related to their knowledge p<0.001. Also, there were significant differences between two groups in all items related to nutritional life style, rest and sleep in addition exercise, physical activity and intensity of leg cramps pain(p<0.001). Conclusion: implementation of lifestyle intervention was effective in improving pregnant women's Lifestyle, through improving their knowledge and decreasing the severity and frequency of leg cramps. Recommendation: The nurses should provide all pregnant women at antenatal clinics with a self-care guideline about lifestyle intervention for reducing leg cramps during pregnancy to improve their awareness.

Keywords:
lifestyle intervention leg cramps pregnancy

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	Salih A. (2016). Leg cramps: the underlying causes and available treatments. Prescribing in practice, 9thed., London , pp: 31-33.
[2]	Hensley G. (2014). Leg cramps and restless legs syndrome during pregnancy. J Midwifery Women's Health, 54(3): 211-218.
[3]	Tucker Blackburn S. (2016). Maternal, fetal, and neonatal physiology: A clinical perspective, 3rd ed. St. Louis, MO; Saunders Elsevier.
[4]	Walters S. (2016). Clinical identification of the simple sleep-related movement disorders. Chest; 131: 1260-6.
[5]	Katzberg H., Khan A. and So Y. Assessment: Symptomatic treatment for muscle cramps (an evidence-based review). Neurology; 2013; 74(13): 691-696.
[6]	Sumamo E., Ha C., Korownyk C., and Vandermeer B. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US). National Institute of Health; 2011 May.
[7]	Inskip M., Crozier R., Godfrey M., Borland E., Cooper C. and Robinson M.. Women's compliance with nutrition and lifestyle recommendations before pregnancy: general population cohort study. BMJ. 2014, 338: b481.
[8]	Hughes F. (2016). Chief Executive Officer International Council of Nurses, 3, place Jean-Marteau, 1201 Geneva, Switzerland.
[9]	Sally K, Smith K, Quillen D and Smith M. Important of instructional guidelines during pregnancy .Women health Journal 2015, 40(6): 31-101.
[10]	Suzanne D., (2016). Nutrition foundations and clinical Applications 6th edition .Michele Grodner, Sylivia Esctt., pp (410-420).
[11]	Oteng-Ntim E., Rajesh V., Helen C., Lucilla Pos. and Pat D.. ifestyle interventions for overweight and obese pregnant women to improve pregnancy outcome: systematic review and meta-analysi. BMC Medicine 2012, 7(5); 10: 47.
[12]	Pilliteria A., (2014). Maternal and child health nursing, care of the childbearing and childbearing family, 7th ed., Wolters Kluwer: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, China, p.526-527.
[13]	Kaiser L. and Allen H.. Main content area Position of the American Dietetic Association: Nutrition and Lifestyle for a Healthy Pregnancy Outcome. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2016, 108(3), 553-561.
[14]	Hawkef,Chuter and Burns. Impact of nocturnal calf cramping on quality of sleep and health related quality of life, International Journal of quality of life aspects of treatment,care and rehabilitation, 2015 ;22 (6): 128 -6.
[15]	Zhou K, West HM, Zhang J, Xu L, Li W. Intervention for leg cramps in pregnancy. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015 Aug 11; (8): CD010655. Epub 2015 Aug 11.
[16]	Leung S.F. and David G.A. (The development of a life style instrument for measuring health – related behaviuors) 2004 .AJNS, 7(3).
[17]	Mc Caffery, M., & Pasero, C. Numeric Pain Rating Scale. Pain: Clinical Manual, 2nd ed. Mosby; 1999. p. 67.
[18]	Aldossary AD, Al Shamandy SA and Haitham AA. A. Cross Sectional Study about Knowledge and Practices of Primigravida Women: Minor and Common Pregnancy Discomforts. 2016, J Nurs Health Sci | Vol. 4 (1): 32-45.
[19]	Ramaiah P. :Exploring the incidence and the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on minor disorders of pregnancy and its management among primigravida mothers in a selected rural areas in Dharmapuri Dt. Asian J Nurs Educ Res. 2015; 5: 118-120.
[20]	Kumar L.:Effectiveness of ‘Self Instructional Module’ (SIM) On the Level of Knowledge Regarding Selected Minor Ailments and Their Remedial Measures among Pregnant Women. IOSR Journal of Nursing and Health Science. 2014, Vol. 3(1), PP 32-38.
[21]	Christian Nordqvist (2015) Causes and treatment for leg cramps , Medical News Today, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/180160.php.
[22]	Lee KA1, Zaffke ME, Baratte-Beebe K. : Restless legs syndrome and sleep disturbance during pregnancy: the role of folate and iron. J Women Health Gend Based Med. 2011, May; 10(4): 335-41.
[23]	Jin Wook Bahk , Kyunghee Jung-Choi , Myung-Chul Jung & Inseok Lee (2013): Relationship between prolonged standing and symptoms of varicose veins and nocturnal leg cramps among women and men. Ergonomics. 2012; 55(2): 133-9.
[24]	Mansouri A, Mirghafourvand M, Charandabi SM, Najafi M.. The effect of Vitamin D and calcium plus Vitamin D on leg cramps in pregnant women: A randomized controlled trial. J Res Med Sci 2015; 6(4) 22:24.
[25]	Sohrabvand F, Karimi M. Frequency and predisposing factors of leg cramps in pregnancy: A prospective clinical trial. Tehran Univ Med J 2014; 67: 661‑4.
[26]	Holick MF. (2013)Vitamin D: A D-Lightful health perspective. Nutr Rev; 66 10 Suppl 2:S182-94.
[27]	Rosy M. A study to assess the knowledge and practice regarding minor disorders of pregnancy and the incidence among the antenatal mothers who 58 attending OPD at selected hospital, Kolar. Asian J Nurs Educ Res.; 2014:4(5); 284-287.
[28]	Latha P and Indira S. Effectiveness of IEC (Information, Education and Communication) package on knowledge regarding minor ailments of pregnancy and its management among antenatal mothers at selected hospital, Nellore, A.P. Int J Appl Res. 2015; 2: 593-596.
[29]	Thorpy M., Chi Z., and Dauvilliers Y.. "Management of narcolepsy during pregnancy" Sleep medicine, 2013, 14(4): 367-376.‏
[30]	Nazik E, Eryilmaz G.. Incidence of pregnancy-related discomforts and management approaches to relieve them among pregnant women. J Clin Nurs. 2014; 23(11/12):1736-50.