Comparison between Effect Acupuncture on SP6 Point and Reflexology on the Severity of First-Stage Labor Pain.

Background: Childbirth is one of the important and most painful phenomena that mothers experience in their lifetime. Acupressure and Reflexology are complementary therapy approaches and techniques that are simple, easy, inexpensive, non-invasive and non-pharmacological methods of pain relief. The aim of the research was to detrmine and compares the effect of acupressure at the SP6 point and reflexology on pain intensity and duration of first stage of labor Materials and Methods The present study was a randomized clinical trial. It was done on 92 low risk pregnant women in the delivery room of Shahid Akbar Abadi Hospital (from February to Jun 2014). They were categorized into 35 women in the acupressure group, 35 in the reflexology group and in the third group 36 samples received routine care. The three groups were as same as each other in the point of view of demographic and obstetrical characteristics. The data gathering tools were included a demographic questionnaire and an examination checklist. In addition, the severity of pain was evaluated with the visual analogue scale (0 to 10cm). In all groups pregnant women were asked to evaluate the severity of pain experienced at the start of the study, before and after the first (dilatation 4-5) and second (dilatation 7-8) intervention. Results: Kruskal Wallis test has showed no significant difference for pain severity at the start of study and before the first intervention among these three groups, however, the statistical test has shown significance differences after the first intervention, before and after the second intervention among them. The intensity of pain has increased significantly in the routine care group (P= 0.001). Our finding has indicated that the average pain score in the acupressure group was lower than reflexology group, but the Mann-Whitney test has shown no significant differences. The pain intensity of labor before and after of intervention with the Wilcoxon test in both stages has indicated that there were no significant differences after intervention in comparison with before the intervention in acupressure and reflexology group. However, in the routine care group the intensity of pain has significantly increased (P=0. 001). Conclusion: This study showed that foot reflexology and acupressure at the SP6 pain are effective in reducing labor pain. Application of no pharmacologic pain reduction technique instead of the pharmacological methods to relieve labor pain recommends.