Local active warming: an effective treatment for pain, anxiety and nausea caused by renal colic

Based on previous studies showing that warming decreases trauma pain in emergency care we hypothesized that local active warming of the abdomen and lower back region could decrease pain in acute renal colic cases during emergency transport.

After obtaining informed consent 100 patients were divided into 2 groups, including those who received active warming of the abdomen and lower back region (42C) and those who received no warming. Pain, nausea and anxiety were rated by the patients using visual analog scales. Statistical evaluation was performed using the t test with p <0.05 considered significant.

In group 1 a significant pain decrease was recorded in all cases using a visual analog score (VAS) (82.7 +/- 9.5 to 36.3 +/- 16.0 mm VAS, p <0.01). In group 2 patient pain scores remained comparable (81.8 +/- 13.0 to 80.6 +/- 12.3 mm VAS). In group 1 anxiety significantly decreased (79.0 +/- 8.9 and 30.7 +/- 14.1 mm VAS before and after treatment, respectively, p <0.01). In group 2 a nonsignificant change in score was noted (79.7 +/- 20.5 to 75.2 +/- 19.7 mm VAS). In group 1 a significant decrease in nausea was recorded in all cases (85.7 +/- 11.2 to 40.6 +/- 23.0 mm VAS, p <0.01). In group 2 patient nausea scores remained comparable (79.2 +/- 22.0 to 80.3 +/- 22.4 mm VAS, respectively).

Local active warming is an effective and easy to learn pain treatment for patients with acute renal colic in emergency care.