Abstract
BackgroundLabor pain is one of the leading causes of fear of childbirth. Acupressure is a non-pharmacological pain relief method that has shown promising results in relieving this pain. The present study is designed to compare the effects of body acupressure at multiple points and auricular acupressure on the pain and duration of labor.Methods/designIn a randomized controlled trial, 90 primigravida women who attend for childbirth will be randomly assigned to one of three groups (intervention groups of either body acupressure or auricular acupressure; control, consisting of routine care). Computer-generated six-block randomization techniques will be used to determine the allocation sequence with a 1:1:1 ratio. To hide the allocation, the type of intervention will be written according to the generated sequence and put in opaque envelopes; these as well as questionnaires will be encoded. The pain score for all participants will be measured at the peak uterine contraction at 4-cm cervical dilation and at 10-cm dilation based on a visual analog scale (VAS). The duration of the active phase of labor in these groups will be recorded too. Data will be imported into SPSS-16 software. First, normality of the data distribution will be investigated. To compare labor duration among the research groups, ANOVA will be used, which will be followed, in case of significance, by the Scheffe post hoc test. Furthermore, Chi-squared test will be used to compare the categorized demographic variables and ANOVA or Kruskal–Wallis tests will be used to compare the quantitative variables in the studied groups. A significance level of 0.05 is considered significant.DiscussionIn this study the effect of auricular acupressure and body acupressure on pain and duration of first stage of labor will be compared.Trial registrationIranian Registry of Clinical Trials, IRCT20180218038789N1. Registered 2018-03-04; pre result.
Highlights
Labor pain is one of the leading causes of fear of childbirth
Labor pain is caused by the interaction of physiological factors, such as uterine contractions and cervical dilation, and psychological factors, such as fear and anxiety [3]
Labor pain relief methods are divided into two major groups, namely pharmacological and non-pharmacological [6]
Summary
Labor pain is one of the leading causes of fear of childbirth. Acupressure is a non-pharmacological pain relief method that has shown promising results in relieving this pain. Labor pain is caused by the interaction of physiological factors, such as uterine contractions and cervical dilation, and psychological factors, such as fear and anxiety [3]. A considerable proportion of C-section (CS) deliveries have been performed merely due to mothers’ fear of labor pain [5]. Labor pain relief methods are divided into two major groups, namely pharmacological and non-pharmacological [6]. The most common technique for relieving pain of labor is the use of medications. The potential side effects of pharmacological methods for the fetus and mother have resulted in a growing interest in the use of nonpharmacological labor pain relief techniques [7]
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