Comparison of the effect of local pressure in the dorsogluteal region and Hugo point massage with pain intensity induced by intramuscular injection

Intramuscular injection is a painful process that can cause severe fear in women. As a result, fear of injection can disrupt the treatment process. Therefore, the present study was performed to assess the effect of local pressure in the dorsogluteal region and Hugo point massage on the severity of pain caused by intramuscular injection in women.

The present study was a clinical trial that was performed on 81 female patients referred to the injection unit of Allameh Bohloul Gonabadi Hospital in 2019. Participants were selected according to inclusion criteria and were randomly assigned to two intervention groups (dorsogluteal region local pressure and Hugo point massage groups) and one control group based on permutation block randomization. Data collection tools included demographic information form and visual pain scale. Central tendency indices and statistical tests (Kruskal-Wallis, Majorca and Mann-Whitney) were used to analyze the data. Significance level was considered as p<0.05.

The results showed that after the intervention, the mean pain intensity in both of the intervention groups was significantly lower than the control group (p=0.007), but there was no significant difference in mean pain intensity between the intervention groups (p=0.68).

Local pressure in the dorsogluthal region and Hugo point massage with ice can effectively reduce intramuscular injection site pain, but none of the methods were superior to other in reducing pain.