Antepartum fetal heart rate testing. XII. The effect of manual manipulation of the fetus on the nonstress test.

A prospective study of 790 patients was performed in order to examine the role of manual manipulation of the fetus in the nonstress test. The patients were assigned randomly to two groups based on the last two digits of their hospital number. The odd-numbered patients underwent manual manipulation of the fetus prior to the onset of the nonstress test; the even-numbered patients did not. There was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to the indications for testing and the total number of tests. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups with respect to the ratio of reactive to nonreactive nonstress tests and the mean duration of testing. Simple manual manipulation of the fetus does not seem to change the outcome in antepartum fetal heart rate testing when the nonstress test is the primary one.