Posture and post-spinal headache. A controlled trial in 80 obstetric patients.

Eighty obstetric patients receiving subarachnoid anaesthesia for second and third stage procedures, excluding Caesarean section, were studied. They were randomly allocated postpartum to either 24 h bed rest or early (6 h post spinal) mobilization. Patients were followed up at 48 h post-partum and the incidence and severity of post-spinal headache noted. There was a significantly greater incidence of severe spinal headaches in the "bed-rest" group and three patients in this group required blood patch treatment for their headache. Early mobilization is, therefore, the recommended management after spinal anaesthesia for these types of obstetric procedure.