Does exhalation while rising from the bed relieve motion-induced pain after abdominal surgery?

Abstract Background: After abdominal surgery, patients may strongly complain of pain during exercise, especially during the motion of rising from the supine to a sitting position. The effect of exhalation on wound pain relief during the rising motion was examined. Methods: Seventy-seven patients who had undergone open renal biopsy and 11 patients who had undergone inguinal hernia repair surgery were made to rise, and subsequently, after a break, were instructed to perform the rising motion while exhaling. The wound pain associated with the rising motion before and after the instruction to exhale was compared and examined. Results: In patients who had undergone open renal biopsy or hernia repair, wound pain during the rising motion was significantly reduced when the rising motion was performed with exhalation, compared to the pain when they did not exhale while rising. Conclusion: This study suggests that abdominal surgery wound pain is relieved when the rising motion from a supine to a sitting position is performed while exhaling. Trial registration: This study was retrospectively registered at ISRCTN registry with study ID ISRCTN95502262.