Diverse interventions to promote relaxation, such as
drug therapy, patient education, massage, aromatherapy
and reflexology, have been designed. Although there is
no standard intervention to be applied to all older patients
in order to manage their pain and reduce their anxiety,
preventive approaches using both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic
approaches should be considered to gain
optimal pain and anxiety control during hospitalization.
Specifically, non-pharmacological methods have been recommended
as adjuvant to analgesics for reducing the
intensity of pain after surgery. Older patients generally
suffer from moderate to severe postoperative pain.13 Furthermore,
the side effects of opioid drugs are experienced
in these patients more frequently.
Non-pharmacologic nursing measures after surgery
could help the patients both reduce their anxiety
and diminish the intensity of their pain. Nonpharmacologic
pain management includes a series of
effective interventions such as relaxation. Relaxation
exercises reduce the intensity of pain after surgery and the
level of anxiety, and thereby prevent the occurrence of
complications after surgery. The use of relaxation exercises
in postsurgical pain prevention can increase patient
satisfaction with nursing care. For instance, it has
been shown that techniques such as deep breathing and
jaw relaxation reduce patients’ pain after abdominal
surgery. Relaxing muscles as a relaxation technique
reduced patients’ anxiety by preventing the transmission
of pain messages to the spinal cord.20 Furthermore,
relaxation techniques are often the preferred methods for
pain management by patients.
The systematic relaxation technique as a therapeutic
intervention has been utilized across patient ages ranging
from 21 to 65 years. However, few studies have explored
whether systematic relaxation techniques can reduce
anxiety and pain in older patients undergoing abdominal
surgery.