Hydrotherapy versus Laxative for Treatment of Postoperative Constipation among Orthopedic Patients

Abstract

Constipation is a common health problem that orthopedic patients may experience during the recovery phase. There are a wide-range of treatment methods to alleviate all symptoms of constipation and to regulate bowel habit back to baseline. Its treatment includes pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic therapy. Aim of the study: to compare between two treatment approaches (pharmacological in the form of laxative and non-pharmacological in the form of hydrotherapy) to relieve postoperative constipation for orthopedic patients.  Design; quasi-experimental design was used. Setting: This study was conducted at departments of orthopedic surgery, at a general governmental Hospital in Cairo, Sample: A purposive sample of 100 male and female adult patients  second day post orthopedic surgery (fixation and traction), divided into two equal groups (50 each), was recruited in this study. Tools: data were collected utilizing the following tools: 1) The Structured Interview Questionnaire, including socio-demographic and related medical data. 2) The Constipation Assessment Scale, developed by (McMillan and Williams, 1989). Results: the study findings revealed that all patients under the study their age ranged between 20 to 40 years, the majority were males. Findings revealed a statistical significant difference between the two groups in intestinal movement and constipation assessment symptoms. The laxative group expresses more intestinal movement and constipation symptoms complain more than hydrotherapy group after implementing the treatment measure. Recommendations; Further research is warranted to conduct studies in nursing to relieve patient's constipation for different types of hospitalized patient and in different hospital settings to apply evidenced based nursing practice.

Key wards: constipation, intestinal sound, bowel movement, orthopedic patient, postoperative, hydrotherapy, laxative, pharmacological therapy approaches, non-pharmacological therapy approaches.