The effect of progressive muscle relaxation on intimacy and sexuality in women with multiple sclerosis: A single-blinded randomized controlled trial

Background: Sexual dysfunction (SD) as a common problem in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients especially women affect their quality of life. There is a lack of data on effective methods of dealing with this problem. This study aims to determine the effect of progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) on intimacy and sexuality in women with MS. Materials and Methods: This clinical trial was conducted on 80 patients with MS refer to Rafsanjan MS clinic (Rafsanjan, Iran) in 2023. Eligible patients were selected purposefully and allocated to two study groups equally using the random minimization method. For the intervention group the progressive muscle relaxation implemented every night 20 minutes before going to bed over the 6 weeks. The data were collected using the MSISQ-19. Analysis was done using software SPSS version 22 (SPSS Inc, Chicago Illinois, USA), using Shapiro -Wilk, Chi-square, Fisher Exact, independent, and paired-t test. Results: The study groups were the same at baseline. In the intervention group at baseline the mean ± SD of total MSISQ score was 41.48 ± 13.54 and decreased to 37.23 ± 11.62 after the intervention ( P = 0.001). In intergroup comparison the mean ± SD of the total MSISQ scores after the intervention did not show a statistically significant difference after the intervention ( P = 0.467), but a significant difference was found in mean changes of scores ( P = 0.001). Similar results were found in comparison mean changes scores of the primary ( P = 0.010), secondary ( P = 0.001), and tertiary ( P = 0.018) subscales. Conclusion: The progressive muscle exercises potentially could be an effective strategy on promoting all aspects of intimacy and sexuality in MS women. It seems that non-pharmacological interventions in the management of MS women’s sexual disorders and prevention of its negative consequences should be the priority of health care providers.