Effects of treatment with San-Yin-Jian(SP-6) acupressure for labor women on labor pain, length time for delivery and anxiety: A clinical trial pilot study

Lee, Mi Kyeong; Chang, Soon Bok; Lee, Hwa Suk; Kim, Haeng Soo

Abstract

The study examined the effects of San-Yin- Jiao(SP-6) acupressure treatment on labor pain, length of delivery and anxiety for women in the labor. The effects of using SP-6 acupressure were evaluated by comparing two groups, a SP-6 acupressure group (22) and a control group (17), for a total of 39 women in labor who had a normal vaginal delivery. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire which included general characteristics, a subjective labor pain scale, measurement of duration of delivery time and a subjective anxiety scale. Data were collected before treatment (pre) and after treatment (post). The results of this study are summarized as follows : 1. The post-scores for total labor pain increased over the pre-scores but the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant(p=0.219). Wilcoxon signed rank test of the difference in pre-post labor pain scores for the SP-6 acupressure group was not statistically significant (p=0.081) but the increase for the control group was statistically significant (p=0.001).2. The length of time for the delivery in the group which had the SP-6 acupressure was shorter (143.91+/-67.77) than the control group (197.94+/-89.64). The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p=0.028).3. The post-scores for anxiety increased over the pre-scores but the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (p=0.426). The scores of SP-6 acupressure group did not show a significant increase by the Wilcoxon signed rank test (p=0.194) but in the control group showed a significant increase (p=0.008).This study showed that SP-6 acupressure was effective in relation to labor pain, length of time for delivery and anxiety for labor women. But it is necessary to replicate the study with a larger number of participants to generalize the results.