Effect of acupressure on pain among older female patients undergoing extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy: A randomized controlled clinical trial.

BACKGROUND AND AIM

Urinary stones are highly prevalent among older people. Extracorporeal lithotripsy is one of the commonly used treatment methods, but it causes pain. Acupressure is a non-pharmacological therapeutic method that is effective in relieving pain among patients with various health conditions. This study aimed to investigate the effect of acupressure on pain among female older people undergoing extracorporeal lithotripsy.

METHOD

This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 66 older female patients undergoing extracorporeal lithotripsy. They were enrolled in the study through convenient sampling and were assigned to the intervention and control groups through the block randomization method. The intervention group underwent acupressure for 16 min which was repeated twice with an interval of 20 min, but the control group received only touch without any pressure for the same period. The McGill Pain Questionnaire and Visual Analogue Scale were completed 60 min before the intervention and immediately after lithotripsy.

FINDINGS

Before the intervention, no statistically significant difference in the quality and intensity of pain between the two groups was observed (p > 0.05). However, after acupressure, the mean scores of quality and intensity of pain decreased significantly (p < 0.001) in the intervention group compared with the control group.

CONCLUSION

Acupressure as a complementary and alternative medicine can reduce pain and suffering among older people undergoing extracorporeal lithotripsy. It can be included in the routine therapeutic measures for relieving pain and suffering during noninvasive methods for older people and reducing their need for medication use and avoiding related pharmacological side effects.