The effects of vibration and massage on severity of symptoms of restless leg syndrome and sleep quality in hemodialysis patients; a randomized cross-over clinical trial

Introduction: restless leg syndrome (rls) is a common sensory disturbance in hemodialysispatients causing mental disorders, sleep disturbances, and other problems.objectives: this study compared the effects of massage and vibration on sleep quality andseverity of symptoms of rls in hemodialysis patients.patients and methods: this cross-over clinical trial was conducted on 80 hemodialysispatients with rls who were assigned into two groups randomly. the first group receivedmassage and the second group received vibration. each group received the related interventionfor one month three times per week each session lasting 10 minutes. one month after thefirst intervention, the interventions were changed in a cross-over design between the twogroups. the severity of symptoms of rls and sleep quality were assessed before and afterinterventions using the related questionnaire.results: the means of severity of symptoms of rls and sleep quality showed a significantimprovement after both interventions of vibration and massage (p < 0.001). additionally, asignificant difference was observed in the means of severity of rls and sleep quality afterinterventions between two groups hence vibration exerted a greater effect on improving thesymptoms of rls and sleep quality in patients compared to massage (p = 0.001).conclusion: our findings suggested that both vibration and massage reduce the mean ofseverity of rls and improve sleep quality in hemodialysis patients, with vibration exerting agreater effect compared to massage.