More than just warmth-The perception of warmth and relaxation through warming compresses.

OBJECTIVES

To differentiate the effect of ginger and mustard as warming ingredients from the effect of calmness & attentiveness and thermal warmth in chest compress application.

DESIGN & SETTING: In an exploratory, controlled, single-blinded study, we compared the effect of ginger and mustard in healthy adults.

INTERVENTIONS

Participants received four different chest compress types over four weeks: simple dry, hot water, with ginger powder and with mustard flour.

OUTCOME MEASURES

The somatic and psychological experience of the participants was collected through psychometric measurements (list of somatic complaints (B-L), questionnaire on mental state (MDBF), 5-point-rating scale (RS) containing eight questions on the experience of relaxation and warmth) and was further complemented through qualitative interview data.

RESULTS

Participants (15 female and 15 male) ranged between 21-36 years (M = 27). No significant changes in the B-L could be found. The MDBF found significant change towards calmness after every application (P < 0.05). Significant improvement in mood was found after the ginger compress (P = 0.00). The RS found significant changes towards relaxation (P = 0.00), emotional balance (P = 0.03), deep (P = 0.03) and slow (P = 0.00) breathing as well as warm hands (P = 0.03) and feet (P = 0.00) with the ginger compress. No significant changes on the RS could be found after the mustard compress. Qualitative-phenomenological data underlined the difference between ginger and mustard in quality of warmth. No adverse effects were reported.

CONCLUSIONS

Ginger and mustard induced a strong and lasting response on perceived distribution of warmth and relaxation. Compound effect quality could be differentiated: mustard triggered a strong relaxing effect after the intervention and ginger a warmth quality that spread throughout the body.