Iranian Journal of Rehabilitation Research in Nursing

Introduction: The chronic diseases such as knee osteoarthritis due to their progressive nature often influence all aspects of elders lives and make them decompensated. The most common symptom of this disease is pain that restricts the mobility of the sick. This study aims to evaluate the effect of self - management program on knee pain in older adults with osteoarthritis referred to Khoram abad orthopedic clinic in 1393. Methods: This research was a quasi-experimental two group before and after study conducted on 80 knee osteoarthritic people selected with convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to intervention (44) and control (44) groups. At first, the knee pain intensities were measured using visual analog scale. Then, the intervention group was offered the four week self-management program consisting of four 70 minute consultation sessions, teaching handout and telephone follow-ups. The intervention group practiced the self-management program about one month at their homes. Finally, the pain intensity in two groups were reassessed and compared. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS version 18 software using x2 and independent T-test. Results: The results showed that the mean intensity of pain had no significant differences in two groups before the intervention but after intervention, the intensity rate of pain was significantly reduced in intervention group compared to control group (p<0/05). Also, findings indicated that there was a significant improvement in the mean intensity of pain after self-management program participation of intervention group (from 7/12±2/09 to 5/43±1/83 p<0/05), but the difference between the mean intensity of pain before and after intervention in the control group was not statistically significant (6/68 to 6/34 p>0/05). Conclusion: The results showed that the self-management plan caused symptomatic improvement and pain relief in the old people suffering from knee osteoarthritis. With a suitable diet and using pain relief methods along with exercise, this program increases the tolerance for exercise and mobility and relieving knee discomfort and pain.