The Effect of Purslane Ointment on Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in the Elderly

Aims Chronic musculoskeletal pain is among the major problems of old age. An effective nursing intervention in relieving pain is the use of local herbal ointments. The present study evaluated the effect of purslane ointment on chronic musculoskeletal pain in the elderly. Methods & Materials This was a randomized, blinded clinical trial study and conducted in 2018, on 60 elderly residents of Gonabad City, Iran. The patients were recruited by convenience sampling method. The samples were randomly assigned to the purslane and placebo groups. The instrument used in this study was McGill pain questionnaire; its validity and reliability were confirmed in previous studies. The intervention was conducted for two weeks. The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS and at a significance level of P<0.05. Findings The collected results suggested that the purslane ointment could effectively reduce the sensory and emotional dimensions of pain, compared with placebo. The severity of pain in the elderly was significantly lower in the purslane group after two weeks of intervention, compared to the  Pre-test phase. The mean score of pain in two sensory and emotional dimensions was not significantly different between the two genders. Conclusion The use of purslane ointment is effective in reducing musculoskeletal pain in the elderly; therefore, the use of this plant can be considered as a safe and cost-effective intervention by nurses.