Hadaiqa Naz, Aimen Ghulam Rasool, Maida Chaudhary, Sumaira Yasmin, Ammara Jabeen, Roohi Abbas.
Role of Physiotherapy in Palliative Care among Cancer patients.
Healer J Physiotherap Rehab May ;3(9):824-32.

Background: The role and benefits of physiotherapy and rehabilitation exercises in palliative care have been proved. Disability has been a common problem among patients who need palliative care focusing on cancer patients. There is an increasing literature that provides evidence that rehabilitation interventions improve quality of life and functional status and lessen symptoms such as fatigue, pain, swelling and anxiety among this population. Objective: To review the benefits of physiotherapy exercises and rehabilitation intervention among cancer patients who are under palliative care. Method: This study is a cross-sectional study with a sample size of 41 was calculated using Epitool. Data for this study was collected from cancer patients from the oncology and medicine ward of Nawaz Shareef Social Security Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. Consent forms printed both in Urdu and English were signed by every patient recruited in this study. A convenient sampling technique was employed for recruiting cancer patients in this study. Cancer patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were recruited in this study. Data was collected from cancer patients from Nawaz Shareef Social Security Hospital. The patients were inquired about how better they felt after their physiotherapy exercise session. The physiotherapy interventions employed were hot packs, bed mobility, ankle pumps, the elevation of limbs, active and passive Range of motion exercises, manual stretching and relaxation exercises. The Statistical Package of Social Sciences version 23 was utilized to calculate the results. Descriptive data was calculated for qualitative data. Fisher`s test was utilized to determine the association between the interventions used and the type of cancer. Results: This showed us that 82.9% of cancer patients felt much better after their physiotherapy intervention session. Fisher`s exact test showed us that a significant association is present between bed mobility and type of cancer and ankle pumps and type of cancer. Conclusion: The results of this study conclude that physiotherapy and rehabilitation exercises should be an essential part of the palliative care of a cancer patient. This study concludes that interventions like bed mobility, ankle pumps, the elevation of limbs and manual stretching must be incorporated in the palliative care plan for cancer patients.

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