Effectiveness of a childbirth massage programme for labour pain relief in nulliparous pregnant women at term: a randomised controlled trial.
Hong Kong Med J
; 27(6): 405-412, 2021 12.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34924363
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
The effect of massage for pain relief during labour has been controversial. This study investigated the efficacy of a programme combining intrapartum massage, controlled breathing, and visualisation for non-pharmacological pain relief during labour.METHODS:
This randomised controlled trial was conducted in two public hospitals in Hong Kong. Participants were healthy low-risk nulliparous Chinese women ≥18 years old whose partners were available to learn massage technique. Recruitment was performed at 32 to 36 weeks of gestation; women were randomised to attend a 2-hour childbirth massage class at 36 weeks of gestation or to receive usual care. The primary outcome variable was the intrapartum use of epidural analgesia or intramuscular pethidine injection.RESULTS:
In total, 233 and 246 women were randomised to the massage and control groups, respectively. The use of epidural analgesia or pethidine did not differ between the massage and control groups (12.0% vs 15.9%; P=0.226). Linear-by-linear analysis demonstrated a trend whereby fewer women used strong pharmacological pain relief in the massage group, and a greater proportion of women had analgesic-free labour (29.2% vs 21.5%; P=0.041). Cervical dilatation at the time of pethidine/epidural analgesia request was significantly greater in the massage group (3.8 ± 1.7 cm vs 2.3 ± 1.0 cm; P<0.001).CONCLUSION:
The use of a massage programme appeared to modulate pain perception in labouring women, such that fewer women requested epidural analgesia and a shift was observed towards the use of weaker pain relief modalities; in particular, more women in the massage group were analgesic-free during labour.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Analgesia, Obstetrical
/
Labor Pain
Type of study:
Clinical_trials
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Pregnancy
Language:
En
Journal:
Hong Kong Med J
Journal subject:
MEDICINA
Year:
2021
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Hong Kong