Effect of acupressure on severity of pain in women with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Multiple sclerosis is the most common chronic demyelization of central nervous system disease. The prevalence of MS is much more common in women than men. Pain is a symptom in MS that affects the patients’ quality of life reduces the ability of patients to do perform their daily activities. Therefore there are the pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods to control the symptom. Among non-pharmacological methods، acupressure، is a low-cost and noninvasive procedure that can be used to control symptoms of the disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of acupressure on severity of pain in women with MS. In this single blind randomized clinical controlled trial، one hundred women were recruited from Tehran MS association. Subjects were divided equally into two groups of experimental and placebo، by random allocation method. Visual analog scale was used to evaluate the severity of pain. The intervention for experimental group was acupressure in ST36، SP6، LI4 points for 3 minutes bilaterally. In addition، the participants were instructed to perform acupressure in same points twice daily for two weeks. Subjects in placebo group were trained to touch the same points. The severity of pain was measured in both groups immediately، two and four weeks after intervention. The data were analysis by SPSS version 17. There were no significant differences in severity of pain (p=0. 16) at baseline in two groups. There was significant reduction of severity of pain in experimental group compared to placebo group immediately، two and four weeks after intervention respectively (p=0. 01، p=0. 01، p=0. 02). According to the study results، acupressure on ST36، SP6، LI4 reduced symptom of pain in women with MS. Therefore the intervention is safe، simple، non-invasive and low-cost، it is recommended، to nurses to practice and educate the procedure to the client in relation to self-care and health promotion.