Elastic Abdominal Binders Reduce Cesarean Pain Postoperatively: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial

Introduction. A potential non-pharmacologic way to reduce postoperativepain and bleeding is using an abdominal binder duringpostoperative recovery. This study aims to determine the effect anelastic abdominal binder has on postoperative pain and hemorrhageafter cesarean delivery. Methods. A randomized, single-site, pilot trial was conducted at twoprenatal care clinics and an academic hospital in Kansas. Beginningin April 2013, 60 patients were enrolled if delivering via cesarean.Participants were randomized to receive an abdominal binder or to acontrol group (did not use binder). Pain levels were reported by questionnaireone day after surgery using a 0 to 10 scale, with 10 being theworst pain. Patient characteristics and blood loss were assessed bymedical record review. Results. Of the 56 patients completing the study, 29 (51.8%) wererandomized to the binder group and 27 (48.2%) were randomizedto the control group. The binder group reported significantly lowerpain score (p = 0.019) and average pain score (p = 0.024). There wasno difference in body mass index, age, previous surgery, infant birthweight, estimated blood loss, and average dose of pain medicationduring the first 24 hours after the cesarean delivery between the twogroups. There was no difference in pre- and post-operative hemoglobinlevels by treatment group (p = 0.406). Conclusions. Abdominal binders may be associated with improvedpostoperative pain scores but did not affect postoperative hemorrhage.Kans J Med 2018;11(2):48-53.