The Ear Acupressure Effective on Pain Intensity before Surgery in Patients Undergoing Appendectomy

Introduction: Treatment of acute appendicitis is surgery and is the most common emergency surgery worldwide. In more than half of patients with appendicitis, the clinical symptoms are a definite history of vague abdominal pain, nausea, and sometimes vomiting. Currently, the tendency of people to use alternative complementary therapies is increasing rapidly. Also, a study in Iran showed that about 80% of patients sought complementary therapies through physicians. Material and Methods: This study was performed during 2018 with the participation of appendectomy candidates in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Ear acupressure was used for patients and the severity of acute pain after surgery was evaluated in all of them and the effectiveness of this method was evaluated. Results: According to the results, there was no statistically significant relationship between acupressure and pain intensity of the subjects after and 15 minutes after the intervention in the three groups, but reduced the mean pain intensity at 30 minutes after the intervention in the intervention group compared to the two placebo groups. Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that acupressure in the thalamus of the ear is a practical and acceptable method for patients and reduces the severity of preoperative pain. On the other hand, pain relief is of clinical importance in nursing care.