Pitoon Vutiso. The effects of passive progressive muscle relaxation technique on post operative abdominal surgery pain in the elderly patients . Master's Degree(Adult Nursing). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2007.
The effects of passive progressive muscle relaxation technique on post operative abdominal surgery pain in the elderly patients
Abstract:
The purpose of this research was to study the effects of passive progressive
muscle relaxation technique (PPMR) on post-operative abdominal surgery pain in
elderly patients. The sample size in this study was 64 elderly patients who underwent
abdominal surgery in the surgical department, Saraburi Hospital. They were enrolled
into the study at the pre-operative period. Thirty two of them were randomly assigned
into the experimental group, while the other thirty two were in the control group. The
experimental group received the usual care and instruction in passive progressive
muscle relaxation technique (PPMR), while the control group received only the usual
care. Pain level was measured by utilizing the Numerical Rating Scale at rest,
immediately after the first ambulation, 30 minutes and 90 minutes after bed rest. The
use of analgesic drugs required within 12 hours was recorded. Independent t-test was
employed to test the difference of pain level between the experimental and the control
group. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to test the difference
between the level of pain pre and post-intervention in the experimental group and
control group. Chi-square was employed to test the difference between the analgesics
used in experimental and control groups.
The study revealed that after receiving PPMR the mean score of pain level
between the experimental group and the control group were significantly different
(p value < .05). Moreover, the mean score of pain level between different time points
were significantly different (p value < .01). However, the usage of analgesics between
the two groups was not statistically different. The finding in this study supported the
effect of passive progressive muscle relaxation technique (PPMR) on post-operative
pain reduction among the elderly patients. This technique should be used for
complementary post-operative pain reduction.