Effectiveness of the Thai Herbal Cold Compression Abdominal Binder on Pain Relief after Open Abdominal Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Postoperative pain management remains a significant challenge following open abdominal surgery. While pharmacological interventions are standard, they are frequently associated with adverse effects, necessitating the prioritization of non-pharmacological alternatives. This randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of the Thai Herbal Cold Compression Abdominal Binder compared to standard nursing care on postoperative Days 1, 2, and 3. The study included 60 people with gastrointestinal diseases undergoing open abdominal surgery at a tertiary care hospital in central Thailand. Participants were matched in pairs based on age, gender, type and duration of surgery, and analgesic use to ensure balanced group characteristics. They were then randomly assigned to either the experimental group (n = 30), who received the abdominal binder twice daily for 20 minutes in addition to standard care, or the control group (n = 30), who received standard nursing care alone. Data were collected using the Single-item Numerical Rating Scale for pain assessment and analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA and post hoc pairwise comparisons. Results indicated that the experimental group reported significantly smaller mean differences in pain scores than the control group over the three-day period. There were three components of the Thai Herbal Cold Compression Abdominal Binder: the binding bandage, cold compression, and herbal gel. However, the efficacy of our innovation may depend on only one of these components, so further research with different designs and samples is required. These findings suggest that, after further testing, nurses can effectively integrate the Thai Herbal Cold Compression Binder as a complementary therapy with routine postoperative care to alleviate pain.