the effectiveness of foot reflexology in the severity of restless legs syndrome in female patients undergoing dialysis: a randomized controlled trial

Background: restless leg syndrome is an ordinary complaint among patients undergoing hemodialysis. reflexology is a nursing intervention that can reduce the restless leg syndrome. this study aimed at investigating the effect of foot reflexology on the severity of restless leg syndrome in patients undergoing hemodialysis. methods: a randomized controlled trial with a before-and-after design was conducted in hemodialysis patients attending a hospital in an urban area of iran in 2016. using a random sampling method, 72 female patients were divided into the experimental and placebo groups (n = 36 in each group). the patients in the experimental group received foot reflexology. in the placebo group, simple foot reflexology without pressing certain parts of the foot was conducted. the restless leg syndrome questionnaire was used to measure the severity of restless leg syndrome before and after the intervention. statistical analysis was performed using spss v. 21 software. results: after the intervention, the score of restless leg syndrome in the experimental group reduced compared to the placebo group (p = 0.02), while the group score of restless leg syndrome showed no statistically significant difference between the experimental and placebo groups (p = 0.84). conclusions: foot reflexology can be used as a safe and non-pharmacologic nursing intervention in reducing the restless leg syndrome among female patients undergoing hemodialysis.