فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Background: Reflexology is an ancient, mild and non-invasive technique, used widely as one of the nonpharmacologicalmethods for pain relief. The aim of this research was to determine the effect of reflexology onpain intensity as well as to determine the duration of labor in primiparas.Methods: In 2008, a randomized clinical trial study was conducted randomly enrolling 120 parturient women withlow risk pregnancy into three groups in Shahid Akbarabadi Hospital, Tehran, Iran. The first group received 40minutes of reflexology at the beginning of active phase (4-5 cm cervical dilatation). Emotional support was offeredfor the second group in the same stage of pregnancy and with the same duration. The third group receivedonly routine care during labor. Pain severity was evaluated with visual analogue scale (0 to 10 cm). In all groups,pregnant women were asked to evaluate the severity of pain experienced before and after intervention and alsoat cervical dilatations of 6-7 cm and 8-10 cm respectively. Data were collected through the numerical pain scale.Results: Pain intensity at all the three stages of cervical dilatation was significantly lower in the reflexologygroup. During the 4-5 cm dilatation stage, women in the supported group reported less severe pain compared tothose receiving routine care, but no significant differences at the later stages of labor. This indicates that reflexologycould decrease the duration of first, second and third stages of labor.Conclusion: Our findings showed that reflexology can be useful to decrease the pain intensity as well as durationof labor.