Use of Acupressure to Improve Gastrointestinal Motility in Women after Trans-abdominal Hysterectomy

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Objective : To evaluate the effectiveness of acupressure on the gastrointestinal motility (GI) in women after trans-abdominal hysterectomy(TAH). Methods : Forty-one women undergoing trans-abdominal hysterectomy were recruited and randomly assigned to two groups. Twenty-one patients were assigned to the experimental group while remaining 20 patients were assigned as controls. A single blinded test was used for this study. Patients were not informed as to the tripe of treatment they would receive. The experimental group received twice daily acupressure for 3 minutes at three meridian points, Neiguan(PC-6), Zusanli(ST-36) and Sanyinjiao(SP-6), beginning 4 hours after surgery and continuing for 3 days. Control group received 3 minutes acupressure on non-meridian points on the tibia or radial bone surface approximately 3 to 4 cm from the corresponding three meridian points. Acupressure was performed twice a day, one at 10 Am and another at 2 Pm. GI contractions was measured by stethoscope prior to and after afternoon acupressure during 2- minute observational period. Results : Results show that acupressure of these three meridian points significantly (p<0.05) increased GI motility in the experimental groups, but not in the control group (p>0.05). Conclusions : Results showed that non-invasive acupressure of these meridian points could significantly improve the GI motility and could be incorporated into the technical curriculum and clinical education program of nursing schools. Family members of the patient could be taught to continue this procedure at home to enhance GI motility in patients undergoing trans-abdominal hysterectomy.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Introduction
• Materials and Methods
• Results
• Discussion