Spinal anesthesia is one of the regional anesthesia techniques needed to provide motor, sensory, and autonomic blocks specifically for lower limbs by delivering local anesthetics into subarachnoid space. This technique is not difficult to perform and relatively inexpensive. However, spinal anesthesia may cause an intense pain during needle insertion. Valsalva maneuver is an attempt to force expiration by pushing a closed airway, such as covering nose or mouth. This maneuver can lead to anti-nociceptive stimulation and may decrease the pain. Thus, this study was aimed to observe the efficacy of Valsalva maneuver in reducing pain intensity during spinal needle insertion.
This study was aimed to observe the efficacy of Valsalva maneuver in reducing pain intensity during spinal needle insertion.