Self-management of primary dysmenorrhea-related pain: cross-sectional study on non-pharmacological interventions.

Abstract

Aim: Different nonpharmacological strategies are adopted to decrease primary dysmenorrhea (PD)-related pain. The present study aimed to verify women's use of nonpharmacological methods for pain and compare them with evidence from the literature. Materials & methods: A two-step study was conducted, comprising an online survey with 9144 women to assess nonpharmacological strategies for relieving PD-related pain, and a literature review on PubMed of verify the evidence of nonpharmacological methods. Results: Many women reported using heat therapy (61.5%), tea (42.4%) and massage (30.9%) to alleviate menstrual pain. However, the literature on these methods is limited. Conclusion: Several nonpharmacological methods are used by women to relieve PD-related pain and studies with low bias risk are needed to prove their effectiveness.