A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Tennis Ball Massage on Back Pain Among Nursing Officers in Mysuru City

Abstract

Low back pain is considered a frequent health concern among nursing officers, mainly because of prolonged standing, frequent patient handling, and repetitive physical tasks. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of tennis ball massage in relieving low back pain among nursing officers. The study adopted a quantitative research methodology and followed a pre-experimental design involving a single group, with participants assessed before and after the intervention through pre-test and post-test measurements. The study sample consisted of 50 nursing officers who were recruited using the convenience sampling method. Low back pain was measured before and after the intervention using the Quebec Back Pain Scale (QBPS). The results indicated that the average pain score recorded during the pre-intervention score was 69.74 ± 9.60, whereas the average of the post-intervention score was decreased to 46.24 ± 8.28, reflecting an overall reduction of 23.50 points after the intervention. The paired t-test analysis was 16.68, which was statistically highly significant (p < 0.001), demonstrating that tennis ball massage effectively reduced low back pain among the participants. No significant statistical association was identified between post-test pain scores and the selected demographic variables (p > 0.05), except where applicable. Based on these findings, the study concludes that tennis ball massage is a safe, simple, affordable, and non-pharmacological method for reducing occupational low back pain among nursing officers. Its ease of use and effectiveness make it a valuable complementary therapy that can be incorporated into routine nursing practice for the effective management of lower back pain.