Effectiveness of Light Pressure Stroking Massage on Pain Severity and Requirement for Analgesic in Patients with Sickle-Cell Anemia

One of the most expressed complaints of patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is pain. Due to adverse effects of drugs used commonly for pain relief in these patients, it is important to use low-cost and non-pharmacological methods independently or combined with palliatives to alleviate pain. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of light pressure stroking massage on pain severity and requirement for analgesic in patients with SCD. This clinical trial was performed on 36 hospitalized patients with SCD in Ahvaz Shafa Hospital, Iran, during 2014. Patients were randomly assigned into intervention (n= 18) and control (n= 18) groups. In intervention group, patients underwent light pressure stroking massage for 20 minutes, while in control group patients just received routine cares. Patients’ pain was assessed before and immediately after intervention during 4 days, and requirement for analgesic was assessed in the fourth day. Data was collected with demographical and clinical checklists as well as numerical pain scale, and analyzed by chi-square, independent and dependent t-tests. There was not statistically significant difference between studied groups before intervention regarding to pain severity in all the times (p>0.05), while after intervention pain severity was significantly lower in intervention group compared to control group in all assessed times (p<0.001). In the fourth day, requirement for analgesic was significantly higher in control group than intervention group (p<0.05). Light pressure stroking massage as a non-pharmacological, low-cost and non-invasive method with no side effects can be effective on pain relief in patients with SCD.