Effect of infrared therapy on wound healing and pain among mothers who underwent caesarean section at selected hospital, Coimbatore

Child Birth either through normal delivery or caesarean section is a unique dynamic process, where fetal and maternal physiologies interact symbiotically. Aim of the present study was to assess the effect of infrared therapy on wound healing and pain among mothers who underwent caesarean section at Sri Ramakrishna Hospital, Coimbatore. True experimental pretest - posttest with control group design was adopted and 20 mothers were selected using Purposive sampling technique. REEDA wound assessment scale and Numerical Pain Rating Scale was used to assess the wound healing and pain. Infrared therapy was applied using infrared lamp with 50 cm distance at 45° angle for 15 minutes twice daily from the 3rd postoperative day till the day of discharge to the experimental group and the control group received routine nursing care. The result shows that there was a significant difference in the level of wound healing among experimental group (df=8, t=2.54 at 0.05 level of significance) and a significant difference in the posttest level of pain between the groups (df=18, t=3.8 at 0.05 level of significance). There was a significant difference in the pretest and posttest level of pain in the experimental group (df=8, t=14.33 at 0.05 level of significance). Improvement was seen in the wound healing and pain among control group also. None of the selected demographic variables of the mothers had association with the level of wound healing but the age and weight had an association with the level of pain. There was no correlation identified between wound healing and pain. The researcher would like to conclude that caesarean wound care is an important aspect and this can be achieved only by developing appropriate clinical services and undertaking more high quality basic and clinical research.