Characterization of pain resulting from perineal trauma in women with vaginal delivery

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Perineal pain in the puerperium of women with perineal traumas can affect the quality of life and interfere with normal activities and physiological needs. In addition, many obstetric practitioners neglect this symptom and an incipient scientific production about the characterization of this pain is observed. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the characteristics of perineal pain in women with perineal traumas due to episiotomy and laceration, according to the Brazilian Version of the McGill Pain Questionnaire, in a public maternity hospital in the interior of Bahia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out with 499 postpartum women who had a vaginal delivery and who presented with perineal pain associated with local traumas. RESULTS: The characterization of perineal pain was the same for both traumas, being described as "that jerk", "boring" and "uncomfortable". CONCLUSION: Perineal pain has considerable intensity and causes discomfort in women. Therefore, it is important that the episiotomy is performed in a restricted way and that the professionals seek to use techniques of perineal protection, as this will reduce the frequency of perineal pain and provide greater comfort to the woman in the immediate puerperium.

Health biopsychosocial aspects of students and collaborators of a higher education institution suffering from headache

“…This instrument has six items related to pain, social, psychological cognitive functioning and distress 18,19 . The McGill questionnaire, designed to provide qualitative pain measures that can be statistically analyzed 20 , was used to characterize the sensory-discriminative, affective-motivational, cognitive, evaluative, and miscellaneous aspects of individuals with headache belonging to this research 21 . The health and disability assessment was performed using the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule generic questionnaire version 2.0, 12 items (Whodas), which has six domains: cognition, mobility, self-care, interpersonal relationships, life activities, and participation in the last 30 days 14 .…”

Prevalence, characteristics, and impact of pain during the postpartum period

“…Perineal trauma is frequent during vaginal delivery and may be spontaneous or provoked by perineum incisions (7) . Perineal pain, caused by spontaneous laceration or episiotomy, may affect up to 65% of women after vaginal delivery (8) .…”

Comparing the Rate of Perineal Tears with and Without Episiotomy in Primigravida Women

“…Apart from all these there is increased risk of infection, longer healing period, increased chance of gapped wound and increased need for analgesia in patients delivering with episiotomy [11] recently it was stated that While episiotomy is common among primiparous women, higher rates are linked to increased morbidity and a limited benefits [12]. A recent research, on the other hand, suggested that episiotomy should be performed with caution and that clinicians should be using perineal protection strategies to mitigate the incidence of perineal pain as well as provide higher comfort zone to the female [13]. However others recently reported that current evidence does not support the idea that repetitive episiotomy decreases vaginal/perineal traumas, and further research is needed [7].…”