Effectiveness of aromatherapy on post-operative pain and discomfort among orthopaedic patients: Experimental study

Abstract

Introduction: Post-operative pain and discomfort are unavoidable after orthopaedic surgeries. Effective pain management is an essential component of post-operative care. Aromatherapy is one of the popular complementary therapies used with pain management in various medical conditions.Methods: A quantitative research approach with the true experimental study with pre-test post-test control group design was adopted with sixty patients (Control -30, Experimental-30) who were selected using a simple random sampling technique. The data was collected using the baseline and clinical variables, numerical pain scale, and discomfort intensity scale.Results: In the experimental group, the mean and S.D of pain on the 1st day was 7.97+1.38 and in the post-test was 6.13+ 1.74. And the 3rd-day pre-test was 2.70+1.51 and the post-test was 1.53+1.14. And the mean and S.D of discomfort on the 1st day was 19.7+4.7 and in the post-test was 14.07+3.93. And 3rd-day pre-test was 2.70+1.51 and post-test was 1.53+1.14 in the experimental group. The repeated measures of ANOVA indicated that there was within the group difference of pain (F=314.7, p=0.001), and discomfort (F=23.21, p=0.001) scores were decreased over time (pre day1- post day3) in the experimental group.Conclusion: This present study showed a significant positive effect of aromatherapy in the reduction of pain and discomfort among orthopaedic surgical patients.