Comparison of the effects of acupressure and self-care behaviors training on the intensity of primary dysmenorrhea based on McGill pain questionnaire among Shiraz University students

Dysmenorrhea is one of the common problems during reproductive ages, with prevalence rate of 60–90%. This study aimed to compare the effects of acupressure at Guan yuan (RN-4) and Qu gu (RN-2) acupoints, self-care behaviors training, and ibuprofen on the intensity of primary dysmenorrhea based on McGill pain questionnaire.
In the randomized clinical trial, 120 females, aged between 18 and 25 years, with primary dysmenorrhea, randomly selected from five dormitories of Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran were screened and randomized into acupressure group, in that pressure was applied for 20 min over the 1st 2 days of menstruation for two cycles. In the second group, the training group took part in four educational sessions each lasting for 60–90 min and control group received ibuprofen 400 mg. The intensity of pain before and after the intervention was measured using short-form McGill pain questionnaire. The data were entered into the SPSS statistical software (version 16) and analyzed using Kruskal–Wallis test, paired t-test, and Chi-square test.
A significant difference was found in the mean intensity of pain before and after the intervention in all the three study groups. The mean score of pain intensity was 10.65 ± 5.71 in the training group, 19 ± 5.41 in the control group, and 14.40 ± 6.87 in the acupressure group after the intervention. The results of Kruskal–Wallis test revealed that both interventions were more effective compared to consumption of ibuprofen.
Training and acupressure were more effective than ibuprofen in the reduction of dysmenorrhea. Thus, they can be considered as trainable methods without side effects in adolescent girls.