Effect of Therapeutic Massage on Relieving Pregnancy Discomforts

Abstract

The Physical and physiological changes occurring during pregnancy associated with negative symptoms which have been shown to impact on the wellbeing of the mother and fetus. Massage therapy was expected to have a positive impact on pregnant women by decreasing stress hormones and potential stressors such as anxiety, leg, back pain and improve mood, sleep and fetal attachment. Aim of the study: To study the effect of therapeutic massage on relieving pregnancy discomforts. Design: An intervention study design was utilized for the study. Setting: this study was conducted at maternal and child health centers for antenatal care at Shebin Elkoom. Sample: A total of 150 pregnant women were recruited in the study. Tools: Four tools were developed and used; 1) A structured interviewing questionnaire, 2) Subjective pain scale (visual-analogue scale (VAS)); 3) sleep scale and 4) anxiety scale. Results: There were statistically significant differences between the two groups regarding pregnancy discomforts as headache, backache, muscle cramp, sleep disturbance and anxiety (p=.000), while there was not statistically significant difference related to joint pain (p=0.53). Women reported that therapeutic massage was very effective on relieving pregnancy discomforts with highly statistically significant differences. Conclusion and recommendations: Therapeutic massage was effective method for reducing discomforts related pain and can be clinically recommended as an alternative, safe and affordable method of pain relief during pregnancy. So it is recommended to raise nurses' awareness regarding use of massage therapies for pregnant women as antenatal routine care. Further studies were needed to apply other non-pharmacological relieving measures for pregnancy discomforts.