RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Tonsillectomy is one of the most common pediatric surgeries in the world and pain control following tonsillectomy is very important. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of acupressure on the amount of pain following tonsillectomy in children. METHOD: One hundred and forty-four children aged 5-12 years old were assigned into one of three groups: interventions, control and placebo. In the intervention group, acupressure was applied at three acupoints and in the placebo group, sham acupressure was applied. In the control group routine care only was applied. RESULTS: There was a significant difference between an average of changes in pain score before and after the intervention during the 3 time periods after the tonsillectomy operation in the acupressure group (p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: The results showed that acupressure had a positive effect on pain reduction after tonsillectomy in children in the intervention group.
