Dolatian1 M, Hasanpour A, Montazeri Sh, Heshmat R, Alavi Majd H
Department of Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Iran Red Crescent Med J. 2011 Jul;13(7):475-9. Epub 2011 Jul 1.
Reflexology is an ancient, mild and non-invasive technique, used widely as one of the non-pharmacological methods for pain relief. The aim of this research was to determine the effect of reflexology on pain intensity as well as to determine the duration of labor in primiparas.
In 2008, a randomized clinical trial study was conducted randomly enrolling 120 parturient women with low risk pregnancy into three groups in Shahid Akbarabadi Hospital, Tehran, Iran. The first group received 40 minutes of reflexology at the beginning of active phase (4-5 cm cervical dilatation). Emotional support was offered for the second group in the same stage of pregnancy and with the same duration. The third group received only 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 also at cervical dilatations of 6-7 cm and 8-10 cm respectively. Data were collected through the numerical pain scale.
Pain intensity at all the three stages of cervical dilatation was significantly lower in the reflexology group. During the 4-5 cm dilatation stage, women in the supported group reported less severe pain compared to those receiving routine care, but no significant differences at the later stages of labor. This indicates that reflexology could decrease the duration of first, second and third stages of labor.
Our findings showed that reflexology can be useful to decrease the pain intensity as well as duration of labor.
反射疗法是一种古老、温和且非侵入性的技术，被广泛用作缓解疼痛的非药物方法之一。本研究的目的是确定反射疗法对疼痛强度的影响以及对初产妇产程的影响。
2008年，在伊朗德黑兰的沙希德·阿克巴拉巴迪医院进行了一项随机临床试验研究，随机将120名低风险妊娠的产妇分为三组。第一组在活跃期（宫颈扩张4 - 5厘米）开始时接受40分钟的反射疗法。第二组在相同孕期阶段接受相同时长的情感支持。第三组在分娩期间仅接受常规护理。使用视觉模拟量表（0至10厘米）评估疼痛严重程度。在所有组中，要求孕妇分别在干预前后以及宫颈扩张6 - 7厘米和8 - 10厘米时评估所经历的疼痛严重程度。通过数字疼痛量表收集数据。
反射疗法组在宫颈扩张的所有三个阶段的疼痛强度均显著较低。在4 - 5厘米扩张阶段，接受情感支持组的女性报告的疼痛程度低于接受常规护理的女性，但在分娩后期无显著差异。这表明反射疗法可缩短第一、第二和第三产程。
我们的研究结果表明，反射疗法有助于减轻疼痛强度并缩短产程。
