Relaxing Melody from Flute Combined with a Foot Massage Can Reduce Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure in Elders

Abstract

Background: Hypertension in elders is affected by physiological changes in the structure and cardiovascular
functions. One alternative of non-pharmacological treatment for hypertension is the combination of foot
massage and harp-flute (kecapi suling) music therapies, which can give a relaxing sensation in the blood
pressure.
Objective: This study aims to observe the effect of the combination of foot massage and kecapi suling music
therapies against systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Method: This research uses the pre-experimental design (one group pretest-posttest design). The population
was elders with hypertension in Werdha Hargo Dedali Nursing Home in Surabaya. Purposive sampling
technique was used to obtain 14 respondents. The independent variables were foot massage and kecapi
suling music therapies, whereas the dependent variable was the blood pressure reduction. The data were
analyzed by using Paired-Samples T-Test with significance value ?0.05.
Results: The study indicated that the combination of foot massage and kecapi suling music therapies affected
systolic and diastolic blood pressure reduction in elders with hypertension. The systolic blood pressure
average value in the pre-intervention was 154.64 mmHg, while the average value in the post-intervention
was 138.86 mmHg. Diastolic blood pressure average value in the pre-intervention was 92.21 mmHg, while
the average value in the post-intervention was 88.00 mmHg.
Conclusion: There is an effect of the combination of foot massage and kecapi suling music therapies on
decreasing blood pressure in elders with hypertension. The decrease in systolic blood pressure occurred in
all respondents, while not all respondents experienced diastolic blood pressure declin