Effect of Acupressure on Post Tonsillectomy Pain in Pediatrics: A Randomized, Single-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial Study

Background: Tonsillectomy is one of the most common pediatric surgeries worldwide and pain control following tonsillectomy is very important. Today due to high side effects of pharmacologic treatments, the use of supplementary and complementary treatments for pain relief such as acupressure is recommended. With regard to the prevalence of tonsillectomy in these ages and the complications of postoperative pain, this study was conducted. Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of acupressure on the amount of pain following tonsillectomy in children aged 5 to 12 years old. Material and method: 144 children aged 5-12 years old were assigned into one of three interventions, control and placebo groups through random block allocation and each group included 48 people. In the intervention group, acupressure was applied and in the placebo group, the sham acupressure was applied. In the control group only routine care was applied. The intervention was performed at three time intervals, one hour, 2-4 hours and 6-8 hours after surgery, and the pain of children was measured using the Oucher instrument. Data obtained were analyzed by SPSS 21 software using descriptive and non-parametric inferential statistical tests (Chi-square, Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis). This study was registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (Clinical Trials. IRCT ID: IRCT2017100836651N1). Result: There was a statistically significant difference between an average of changes in pain score before and after the intervention during the three time periods after the operation of tonsillectomy in the acupressure group (P = 0.002), while in the control group (P = 0.546) and the placebo group (P = 0.332) did not show any significant changes. Conclusion: The results showed that acupressure has had a positive effect on pain reduction after tonsillectomy in children of intervention group. Acupressure is a safe, cheap and without complication technique and is recommended to use it. The use of acupressure reduces analgesic drugs consumption after pediatric tonsillectomy

Keywords:

Acupressure , Postoperative pain , Children , Tonsillectomy , Complementary medicine