The Effect of Gum Chewing and Foot Reflexology on the Bowel Peristalsis in the Patients undergoing General Surgery: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

ABSTRACT Title: The effect of gum chewing and foot reflexology on the bowel peristalsis in the patients undergoing general surgery: a randomized clinical trial Introduction: Post-operative complications is one of the difficult and disruptive aspects of patients’ surgical treatment and increases the length of stay in hospital. Due to the effects of other methods, there is a strong emphasis on the use of complementary and alternative medicine therapies. This study aimed to investigate the effect of gum chewing and foot reflexology on the bowel motility in patients undergoing colectomy. Method: This study is a single blind clinical trial that was performed on 108 male and female patients undergoing general surgery (colectomy) in 2013. This study was conducted in four groups: gum chewing, foot reflexology, gum and reflexology and control. In the gum chewing group, chewing gum for 20 minutes was given to the patients to chew, in three times 4, 10, 18 hours after the patients regained consciousness after surgery. In the reflexology group, in the morning of the first day after surgery, reflexology for 3 sessions of 40 minutes, for three consecutive days, for every foot massage was performed for 20 minutes. For gum and reflexology group, both interventions were carried out. Also the control group received routine cares. Datas were analyzed using the software SPSS version 11/5 and descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (ANOVA). Results: Compare the variation of flatus, defeation and bowel sounds scores in four group showed that the group receiving gum, significantly their first passage of flatus score was lower than the control group, reflexology group and combination group; in the reflexology group, the first defecation score significantly was lower than the control group, gum and combination; and the score of first bowel sound in all groups was significantly higher than reflexology group. Conclusion: From the results of the study it can be concluded that reflexology, have a more impact on reducing postoperative ileus.