Gua-Sha therapy on breast engorgement among Indian postnatal mothers

Abstract

Many women experience breast engorgement in the first few weeks after giving birth. Breast engorgement that is somewhat severe. It is characterized by full, tense, heated, and tender breasts that are painfully throbbing and aching. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the effect of Gua-Sha therapy on breast engorgement in reducing pain among postnatal mothers. A “non-randomized pre-test post-test control group design” was used for this study. “Purposive sampling techniques” were used to obtain 60 postnatal mothers who satisfied the inclusion criteria. Six point engorgement scale and visual analog scale were used for data collection. After pre-test Gua-Sha therapy was given 30 minutes in one cycle twice a day depending on upon the severity. Reassessment was done immediately after the procedure. The result shows that the post test score of breast engorgement in experimental group was 1.1 (± 0.305), where in control group 4.16 (±2.152). The ‘t’ test value of breast engorgement was 9.869. The result shows that Gua-Sha therapy for breast engorgement in reducing pain was significant effect (p <0.05). The study concluded that the Gua-Sha therapy is an effective for reducing breast engorgement and pain among post natal mothers.