The effect of massage on the intensity of pain caused by vaccination in newborn infants

Pain is a complicated phenomenon that has been ignored in the newborn in the past. Massage and touch therapy have effects on CNS and facilitate the release of internal opiates such as beta-endorphins and enkephalins which can be effective on pain. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of massage on alleviating the intensity of pain due to vaccination experienced by the newborn infants that were delivered at Bentolhoda Hospital in the city of Bojnurd, North Khorasan, Iran, in 2007. In this single blind randomized clinical trial (RCT), 60 healthy full-term newborns were studied. These were then randomly allocated into two groups; experimental group (massage) (n=30) and control group (n=30). The experimental group received 30 minutes of direct massage applied by the mother and supervised by the researcher. A reasonably firm and rhythmic effelurage massage was applied to the whole body and petressage massage was applied to the extremities. The control group was placed in the cot beside their mothers’ beds without any massage techniques. After 30 minutes, the two groups were injected with Vaccina (Hepatitis, BCG) by a vaccinator in the center. In the two groups, behavioral changes of the newborns was observed and evaluated before vaccination, immediately after 30-minute intervention, and 5 minutes after the intervention by a researcher who was blind to the group the infant was allocated to. The intensity of pain was measured using the (NIPS) Neonatal Infant Pain Scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test and chi-square test. after 30 minutes intervention, the mean of pain intensity in experimental group was lower than control group (p=0.004). The findings of the present study indicates that massage reduces the intensity of pain experienced by the newborns, being a non- invasive method for the reduction of pain, therefore it can be used in the promotion of the infants’ health.