The use of the "progressive muscle relaxation" technique for pain relief in gynecology and obstetrics.

Pain is one of the most frequent symptoms observed in patients and various treatments are proposed for its relief, including relaxation techniques. With the purpose of testing the effect of a specific intervention (progressive muscle relaxation) in a determined situation (pain), this study aimed at verifying the level of pain in post-surgery patients prior to and after the application of the Progressive Muscle Relaxation technique. The subjects, 61 patients, had been submitted to abdominal surgical interventions, of which 52.5% had a gynecological nature and 47.5% obstetrical. Our data showed statistically significant alterations in life parameters as well as muscular alterations after the application of the Progressive Muscle Relaxation technique. It was concluded that the use of the Progressive Muscle Relaxation Technique enabled the subjects to determine that their pain levels decreased.