Abstract
An abdominal operation affects gastrointestinal (GI) motor activity. Post-operative care for early
recovery of GI motility is recommended. The purpose of this quasi-experimental research was to study
the effects on bowel function of using a rocking-chair in patients who had undergone gynecological ab-dominal surgery. The framework of this study is based on the effect of mechanical pressure and relaxation
technique on the GI tract. The sample of 60 abdominal hysterectomy patients was drawn by carefully
selected criteria from a patient population admitted for abdominal hysterectomy during the period from
June to October 2008. The patients were randomly assigned into two groups: the experimental group who
ambulated by rocking-chair exercise and the control group who did not. The data collected consisted of
four parts: demographic, treatment, bowel function and patient satisfaction. The experimental instruments
were rocking-chair and stethoscope. The bowel function was measured 16 hours after surgery. The
experimental group who were assigned to ambulate by rocking-chair exercised for 45 minutes and the
control group who did not. Data were collected and analyzed by using mean, standard deviation and
independent t-test. We compared the difference by χ2 test and independent t-test.
The results revealed that the frequency of bowel sound and belching was statistically significant
with the difference being p = 0.001 and 0.01, respectively. There was no difference in the number of days
marked by flatus and the passing of feces. The majority (53.3%) of patients had high satisfaction and
almost all (90%) of the patients experienced no dizziness.
We suggest that the post-operative abdominal surgery patients should be ambulated with a rockingchair.
The outcome of our study theoretically applies also to the other patients undergoing abdominal
surgery.
