Effect of Therapeutic Non-Thermal Ultrasound on Post-PartumSymptomatic Breast Engorgement

To study the effect of therapeutic non thermal ultrasound in post partum breast engorgement.

Forty postpartum women with breast engorgement were included for the study after obtaining consent, which were referred from the OBG department of S.D.M. Medical Hospital, Dharwad., Karnataka. They were randomly assigned to experimental and control group constituting of twenty subjects respectively. All the subjects in both the groups underwent evaluation for engorgement. It included assessment of Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for pain and Six Point Engorgement Scale (SPES) for engorgement. Both the groups underwent treatment for engorgement which consisted of massage, manual expression of milk and advice on appropriate latching technique for period of two days successively. The experimental group was additionally intervened with therapeutic non thermal ultrasound.

Statistical analysis was done day wise within both the groups and between the groups.

The results indicated that there was significant relief in VAS and SPES scores with in the groups showing that the intervention done was beneficial. The analysis of baseline data of day 1 and follow up data of day 3 between the two groups indicates that experimental group showed statistically significant relief in symptoms

We conclude from our study that the use of therapeutic non thermal ultrasound for two sittings in two successive days in the treatment of symptomatic post partum breast engorgement accelerates relief of symptoms as compared to other interventions like massage, expression of milk and appropriate feeding technique.