Introduction: Ice pack is effective for alleviating postpartum perineal pain in primiparous women while multiparous women's levels of perineal pain appear to be poorly explored. Ice pack is a low-cost non-invasive localised treatment that can be used with no impact on breastfeeding. However, how long perineal analgesia persists after applying an ice pack is still unknown.
Objective: To evaluate if perineal analgesia is maintained up to 2h after applying an ice pack to the perineum for 20min.
Method: A quasi-experimental study, using a pre and post-test design, was undertaken with a sample size of 50 multiparous women in Brazil. Data was collected by structured interview. The intervention involved a single application of an ice pack applied for 20min to the perineal area of women who reported perineal pain ≥3 by use of a numeric rating scale (0-10), with intact perineum, 1st or 2nd degree lacerations or episiotomy, between 6 and 24h after spontaneous vaginal birth. Perineal pain was evaluated at three points of time: before, immediately after and 2h after applying an ice pack.
Results: Immediately after applying an ice pack to the perineal area, there was a significant reduction in the severity of perineal pain reported (5.4 vs. 1.0, p<0.0005), which continued for 1h 35min up to 2h after the local application.
Conclusion: Ice pack application for 20min is effective for alleviating postpartum perineal pain and continues to be effective between 1h 35min for up to 2h.
Keywords: Cryotherapy; Pain management; Perineal pain; Postnatal care; Postpartum period.
Copyright © 2015 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.