Effect of Acupressure at the Sanyinjiao Point (SP6) on the Process of Active Phase of Labor in Nulliparas Women

Labor pain is considered as one of the most painful experience in women life so the reduction of pain of the active phase of labor is a very important issue. One way to reduce labor pain is acupressure. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of acupressure at the Sanyinjiao point (SP6) on the duration and pain of the active phase of labor in nulliparas women. A single blind randomized clinical trial was performed on 120 eligible nulliparas women (18-35 years old) who were at the beginning of active phase of labor and referred to Shahid Akbarabadi hospital, Tehran. The women were assigned into case group (n=60) and control group (n=60) one by one. The contractions and severity of pain controlled for 30 minutes in patients, the case group received acupressure at Sanyinjiao point, for 30 min during the pain and touch of this point occurred in control group. Finally, at the end of the active phase, severity of pain (with visual analog scale from 0 to 10), and the route of delivery were noted and compared between the two groups. There are significant differences between the mean duration of active phase in the control group (441.38±155.88) and case group (252.37±108.50) (p=0.0001), the kind of delivery (p=0.0001) and the severity of pain in the case group (5.87±1.77) and control group (6.79±1.52) (p = 0.003). The results of this study showed that acupressure at Sanyinjiao point (SP6) reduced the duration and severity of pain of the active phase of labor and cesarean section rates. So it's advisable to use this safe and ease way to reduce the labor pain.