Acta Anaesthesiologica Taiwanica
Volume 48, Issue 2 , Pages 80-86, June 2010

Effects of Auricular Acupressure on Pain Reduction in Patient-controlled Analgesia After Lumbar Spine Surgery

  • Mei-Ling Yeh

      Affiliations

    • School of Nursing, National Taipei College of Nursing, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C
    • ,
  • Mei-Yung Tsou

      Affiliations

    • Department of Anesthesiology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C
    • ,
  • Bih-Yun Lee

      Affiliations

    • School of Nursing, Oriental Institute of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C
    • ,
  • Hsing-Hsia Chen

      Affiliations

    • Department of Applied Mathematics, Chung-Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan, Taiwan, R.O.C
    • ,
  • Yu-Chu Chung

      Affiliations

    • School of Nursing, Yuanpei University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, R.O.C
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. School of Nursing, Yuanpei University, 306 Yuanpei Street, Hsinchu, Taiwan, R.O.C

Received 18 May 2009; received in revised form 5 February 2010; accepted 10 February 2010.

Article Outline

Objective

This study aimed to examine the adjuvant effects of auricular acupres-sure in augmenting intravenous patient-controlled analgesia with morphine and droperidol for postoperative lumbar surgery patients in terms of postoperative pain relief satisfaction, and the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV).

Methods

In this single-blind experimental study, 94 subjects were randomly assigned to the experimental group in which patients received auricular acupressure to six auricular acupoints or a control group without acupressure. Data were collected using the American Pain Society Patient Outcome Questionnaire. Descriptive analyses, t tests, χ2 tests, Mann-Whitney tests, and the generalized estimating equation model were used.

Results

The experimental group had lower average pain scores than the control group, but no between-group difference was found. Analgesic dose and satisfaction were similar in both groups. The incidence of PONV was low and similar in both groups.

Conclusion

Although this study did not demonstrate adjuvant effects of auricular acupressure on postoperative pain, analgesic dose, analgesic satisfaction and PONV, most subjects were satisfied with the pain management even though they were subjected to moderate pain because of insufficient analgesia. Further studies should reconfirm the effects of auricular acupressure on analgesia provided by intravenous patient-controlled analgesia in postoperative patients, and its influence on the frequency and duration of analgesia administration.

Key Words:  auricular acupressure , pain , postoperative nausea and vomiting , satisfaction

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PII: S1875-4597(10)60018-5

doi:10.1016/S1875-4597(10)60018-5

Acta Anaesthesiologica Taiwanica
Volume 48, Issue 2 , Pages 80-86, June 2010

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