Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the progressive muscle relaxation technique on postoperative pain and anxiety in coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients. The sample comprised 30 CABG patients who were extubated within 24-72 hours after their operation in cardio-vascular-thoracic intensive care unit. This occurred at Ramathibodi Hospital between June and August, 2005. A quasi-experimental design was used with one pre-test and post-test group. After extubation, the progressive muscle relaxation treatment was used with the participants. The data collected were the results from the numerical pain scale (vertical) and the anxiety visual analogue scale. Both pain and anxiety levels were measured at the beginning and the end of intervention procedure, and again after 15, 30 and 45 minutes respectively. The mean scores of pain and anxiety were analyzed using a repeated measured ANOVA.
The findings of this study showed that the mean post-intervention scores for both the pain and anxiety scores were significantly lower than the pre-intervention scores (p<0.05). In addition, 70% of the participants used the relaxation treatment again within 24 hours. This group requested fewer analgesic drugs than the group that did not receive the treatment. These findings support the effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation as a complementary treatment to reduce postoperative pain and anxiety in CABG patients