Acupoint Needle-Embedding Combined with Ironing Therapy for Postoperative Pain After Anal Surgery

Summary

The high incidence of pain after anal surgery is due to the physiological structure and pathological status of the anus. At present, the use of painkillers cannot provide satisfactory pain relief, which makes complementary therapy important. This paper proposes acupoint needle-embedding combined with ironing therapy to relieve postoperative pain.

Abstract

Acupoint needle-embedding combined with ironing therapy is a non-drug treatment method to release postoperative pain after anal surgery. The practice is guided by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome differentiation theory and employs acupoint stimulation and heat to alleviate pain. Although prior research has shown that these are dependable methods for pain relief, the combined effect of the two techniques has not been described. In our research, we found that compared to using diclofenac sodium enteric-coated capsules alone, adding acupoint needle-embedding combined with ironing therapy was more effective for reducing pain levels at different stages after hemorrhoid surgery. Although this technique is efficient and commonly used in clinics, due to its invasive practice, acupoint needle embedding still carries risks relating to hospital-acquired infections and broken needles. Ironing therapy, on the other hand, can result in burns and connective tissue injuries. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a standardized protocol for medical staff. Our protocol refines the traditional techniques and provides detailed instructions on patient preparation, operation techniques, and postoperative care to ensure the therapy is carried out safely and efficiently. By standardizing this therapy, this technique is expected to become an important complementary therapy for postoperative pain relief in hemorrhoids, which will significantly improve patients 'life quality after anal surgery.

Introduction

Postoperative pain is one of the most common complications in anorectal surgery. Among these conditions, pain caused by hemorrhoid surgery is particularly prevalent¹. Generally speaking, postoperative pain may be caused by anxiety after surgery², improper surgical methods³, obstruction of blood and lymph flow⁴, surgical wound infection, and spasm of the internal anal sphincter⁵. In most cases, postoperative pain is a normal physiological response, but excessive or persistent pain causes discomfort to the patients, aggravates psy....

Protocol

A brief graphical flow of the protocol is shown in Figure 1. The protocol was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (code: 470000013, 4300000011). The data were obtained with the informed consent of the patients. The patients voluntarily signed informed consent prior to the study. The inclusion criteria were as follows: the ability to follow the doctor's advice; signing the consent form; diagnosis of hemorrhoids; excision of hemorrhoids with Milligan-Morgan surgery (M-M surgery). The exclusion criteria were as follow....

Results

Statistical analysis
Collect and analyze the data using SPSS 22.0. In this work, normally distributed continuous variables were expressed as mean ± standard (SD), and comparisons between two groups were made using the Student's t-test. Continuous variables with skewed distributions were described using the median and 25% and 75% interquartile range, M (QL, QU), and comparisons between groups were performed using the Mann-Whitney U-test. Dichotomous variables were tested using the Chi-square test. Val.......

Discussion

Surgical procedures for hemorrhoids have developed rapidly. In addition to the traditional M-M surgery, procedures such as rubber band ligation (RBL), the procedure for prolapse and hemorrhoids (PPH), tissue-selecting therapy stapler (TST), hemorrhoidal artery ligation, and infrared photocoagulation have also been widely used^37,38,39. However, the advantages of M-M surgery, such as the high cure rate, low price, and simple opera.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
diclofenac sodium enteric-coated capsules	Temmler Ireland Co., Ltd., Kerry, Ireland	H20170098
fructus aurantii	Traditional Chinese Medicine Co., Ltd., Sichuan, China	220209
fructus foeniculi	Traditional Chinese Medicine Co., Ltd., Sichuan, China	220210
gauze bag	Anhui Meijianan Household Products Co., Ltd, Anhui, China	M921
hand sanitizer	Suolang Medical Disinfectants Co., Ltd., Zhejiang, China	200561121Q
iodophor cotton swabs	Jiabeier Medical Technology Co., Ltd., Zhejiang, China	20162140536
microwave oven	Galanz Group Co., Ltd., Guangdong, China	P70D20L-ED(W0)
press needle	Suzhou Acupuncture Supplies Co., Ltd. Zhejiang, China	20162200591
pulverizer	Zhaofenger Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., Hunan, China	J80031
radix paeoniae alba	Guoqiang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Sichuan, China	220601
rhizoma chuanxiong	Yuankang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Sichuan, China	220603
rhizoma corydalis	Xinhehua Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Sichuan, China	2206071
rhizoma curcumae longae	Traditional Chinese Medicine Co., Ltd., Sichuan, China	220216
sterile cotton swabs	Zhongxin Sanitary Materials Co., Ltd., Sichuan, China	20180021
sterile tweezers	Weigao Grope Medical Polymer Co., Ltd., Shandong, China	20182640148
thermometer	Beierkang Medical Devices Co., Ltd., Guangdong, China	20162200505
treatment towel	Sichuan Hualikang Medical Technology Co., Ltd, Sichuan, China	2111901