AN INVESTIGATION OF NON-NOXIOUS COLD AS A PAIN INTERVENTION AMONG WOMEN.
Contributors: Indiana University School of Nursing.
Published: 1995
Number of pages: 74
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery.; Psychology, Physiological.
Description: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of periphel stimulation, specifically a non-noxious cold thermal intervention, in the reduction of experimental pain. Rationale for the use of peripheral stimulation techniques in the reduction of pain comes from the neurophysiology of the spinal cord which supports that the firing of non-noxious sensory afferents produces active inhibition of neurons transmitting nociceptive information through the release of the neurotransmitter enkephalin. No studies have been found that adequately test the effects of a changing cold thermal intervention. Because the intervention has not been sufficiently tested to allow its use with a clinical population, the study was conducted with experimental pain in a non-clinical population. Experimental pain was induced through the use of the Submaximal Effort Tourniquet Technique (SETT). A convenience sample of 30 female registered nurses was obtained. Subjects served as their own control in a repeated trials design. To control for order of presentation, subjects were randomly assigned to the order of the intervention. Pain inhibition was measured by a subjective pain numeric rating scale and by tolerance time. Meaning of the pain experience was controlled for by using an experimental pain technique. Past experience with pain and cognitive strategy use were measured to assess their potential as confounding variables, but were found not significant. Subjects reported a significantly lower pain rating for the experimental condition (t = $-$ 3.44, p =.002). No significant difference in tolerance time was detected. The non-noxious cold thermal interventions appears to be successful in decreasing experimental pain.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-10, Section: B, page: 5420.

Thesis (D.N.S.)--INDIANA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NURSING, 1995.

School code: 0815.