J Korean Acad Nurs.  2006 Oct;36(6):897-904.

Pain Relieving Effect of Yakson Therapy for Infants

• Park ES
• Sung KS
• Oh WO
• Im HS
• Kim ES
• Kim YA
• Lee CH

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of Yakson therapy as a pain management tool on the physiologic and behavioral reponses of infants with a painful heelstick procedure. METHOD: Infants were randomly assigned to a group that underwent a series of Yakson therapy and a control that received nothingbefore a heelstick. Heart rate, oxygen saturation, and NIPS were compared between the experimental (n=16) and control (n=16) infants during an undisturbed baseline and after a standard heelstick procedure. Yakson therapy consisted of laying a hand on the back, and caressing the abdomen by hand for 5 minutes. RESULT: The pain scores of the Yakson group were lower than the control group. Foroxygen saturation, there were statistically significant differences between groups. For heart rate, there were no statistically significant differences between groups. CONCLUSION: This data suggests that Yakson therapy had a pain relief effect in behavior responses and SaO2. Accordingly, Yakson therapy should be used as a nursing intervention for simple pain management for a heel prick.

Keyword

Pain; Infant; Yakson therapy

MeSH Terms

Blood Specimen Collection
Female
Heart Rate
Heel
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Male
*Neonatal Nursing
Oximetry
Pain/nursing/*therapy
Pain Measurement
Punctures/adverse effects
Therapeutic Touch/*methods/nursing