The benefit of elastic abdominal binders after cesarean section in rural area: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial

Introduction: Cesarean section (CS) is the most common abdominal surgery procedure in the world. This study aims to determine the effectivity of abdominal binder use after cesarean section related to pain and mobilization. Methods: This was a randomized controlled, single-site, pilot trial study conducted in RSUD SoE, Timor Tengah Selatan, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Women with singleton term pregnancy undergoing cesarean section in our hospital were eligible to participate in the study. We excluded patients with history of cesarean section, second stage dystocia, abnormal placenta, hemoglobin level preoperative less than 10 g/ dL, chorioamnionitis, cesarean hysterectomy due to severe hemorrhage, organ injury, and outside spinal anesthesia during cesarean section. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 20. Results: There were 60 participants randomized into control and intervention (binder) group. There was no difference in age, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), gestational age, infant birth weight, and length between groups (p>0.027). The use of an elastic abdominal binder can speed up the rate of mobilization, shown by 2-minute walking test (p<0.05). Based on BPI-SF, the postoperative pain in elastic abdominal binder group had lower mean value than control group (p<0.05). Impact of pain to daily activities based on BPI-SF and SDS showed no difference between both groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: This study showed the benefit of abdominal binder after CS is to enhance the mobilization and reduce postoperative pain.