A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Foot Reflexology on Pain among Post Caesarean Mothers in Selected Hospitals at Namakkal District

Background: Child birth is one of the greatest events in every woman's life. Though it is the happiest moment, the process of child birth is physically painful. Caesarean section is one of the common methods of delivery with incidence of 32.6% documented from South India. Post operative pain and insomnia are the major concerns for the mothers. Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of foot reflexology on pain among post caesarean mothers. Design: Quasi experimental Non equivalent pre test and post test design was adopted for the study. Setting: VK hospital and TPN hospital, Erode. Participants: 30 post caesarean mothers fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected by convenient sampling. Methods: A pre test was conducted by using Visual Analogue scale. Immediately after pre test foot reflexology was given one time a day for 5 days and 6th day post test was conducted to assess the effectiveness of foot reflexology. Collected data was analysed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: In control group, the mean score of the sample was 5.9 (SD= 0.67)) and the experimental group mean score was 4.1 (SD = 0.24) with Paired't'value of 6.42 and Unpaired't' value 3.43. This showed that the foot reflexology was effective in enhancing the practice of the sample regarding pain perception. There was a statistically no significant association found between the post test scores of the sample with their demographic variables. Conclusion: The findings imply the need for educating post caesarian mothers on effective management of pain perception. Foot reflexology is a non pharmacological, cost effective and simple intervention without any adverse effects. The results proved that the foot reflexology was effective in reducing the post operative pain among post caesarean mothers.