OBJECTIVES: to assess the use of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for post-cesarean pain relief. METHODS: a simple-blind and random clinical controlled-study was carried out. The experimental group comprised twenty puerperal women to whom the TENS technique had been applied and 20 others as a control group. The numeric rating scale and the McGill Pain Questionnare were used to evaluate pain. Three evaluations were carried out: the first before the intervention using transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation; a second, after the intervention and a third, one hour after the intervention. For statistical analysis, the Mann-Whitney's non-parametric test was used. RESULTS: the experimental group presented a statistically significant larger reduction in pain than the control group on the second and the third evaluation using both the numeric rating scale (p<0.001) and McGill (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation is effective for the reduction of pain and the resulting relief persists for an hour subsequent to its application and could be used in clinical practice as a non-pharmacological resource to promote humanization of the puerperal condition in cases of caesarean section.
Cesarean section; Pain; Transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation
