The Effect of Ice Massage of the LI4 Point on Severity of Labor Pain in Primigravidas

Labor pain is one of the severe pains women experience during their life. Today various pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions are used to relieve the labor pain; one of the non-pharmacological relief methods is acupressure. This study was fulfilled to evaluate the effect of ice massage in LI4 point on severity of labor pain in primigravidas. This quasi-experimental study was carried out on 60 primigravidas admitted for delivery in Valiasr Hospital, Zanjan. The cases were primigravidas with single fetus, in the age range of 20-35 years with cervical dilatation of 3-4 centimeters and gestational age of 38-42 weeks. At first, they were selected by simple sampling and then randomly divided into two groups: Case and control. Severity of pain was measured in visual analogue scale (VAS) before and after massage of the left and right hand. The data were analyzed by T test, paired t-test, Chi-square at a significance level of α=0.05. There were no significant statistical differences in age, education, occupation, and severity of pain before intervention between two groups. Intensity of pain decreased significantly after intervention in case group compared to control group (p<0.0001). Ice massage of left hand was more effective than right hand (p<0.001). The results of this study suggested that ice massage could be considered as a safe, effective and noninvasive method of reducing labor pain.