The Effectiveness of Dysmenorrhea Exercise Intervention in Reducing Menstrual Pain Among Adolescent Girls
Abstract
Introduction: Dysmenorrhea is characterized by severe menstrual cramps and increased myometrial contractility, which is triggered by elevated prostaglandin synthesis. This response results from heightened sensitivity of the uterine muscles to prostaglandins, leading to uterine hypoxia and ischemia, and ultimately causing pain. Dysmenorrhea affects approximately 70% to 90% of women under the age of 24. One of the non-pharmacological approaches to relieve this pain is physical exercise or targeted movement therapy. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of dysmenorrhea exercise intervention in reducing menstrual pain among adolescent girls. Materials and Methods: This study employed an experimental design using a one-group posttest-only approach. The population consisted of 124 female adolescents from Muhammadiyah Jogoroto Islamic Junior and Vocational High Schools. A total of 60 respondents who experienced menstrual pain were selected using a purposive sampling technique. Data were collected through questionnaires and analyzed using a t-test. Results and Discussion: The findings indicated that the mean rank of respondents before participating in the dysmenorrhea exercise intervention was 21.52, while the mean rank after the exercise was 23.24. Statistical analysis showed a significant difference in the degree of dysmenorrhea before and after the intervention, with a p-value of 0.0001, which is less than the significance level α = 0.05. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that dysmenorrhea exercise intervention has a significant effect on reducing dysmenorrhea among adolescent girls.
Keywords:
Dysmenorrhea, exercise intervention, menstrual pain, adolescentDownloads
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Copyright (c) 2025 Emi Kusumawardani, Puput Safitri (Author)
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