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The Effect of Simultaneous Application of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) on Specific Lumbar and Acupuncture Points on Labour Pain Relief: A Randomised Clinical Trial
LC11-LC16
Correspondence
Seyedeh Hajar Sharami,
Reproductive Health Research Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Al-zahra Hospital, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
E-mail: sharami@gums.ac.ir
Introduction: Labour pain is among the most challenging experiences a woman could face during life. Non Pharmacological modalities like Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) are rather new methods, introduced for relieving this pain.
Aim: To investigate the effect of concurrent use of TENS application on the labour pain relief.
Materials and Methods: This is a double-blind randomised clinical trial study where, a total of 104 eligible pregnant women qualified for normal vaginal delivery. They were randomly divided into four groups treated with Lumbar-TENS or Acupuncture points-TENS as A: both inactive (placebo group), B: Active Acupuncture points TENS, C: Active Lumbar TENS and D: both active. TENS was applied on four points of toraco-lumbo sacral, while Acupuncture points-TENS was applied on Hegu and Sanyinjiao points. The pain scores were evaluated by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) criteria, four times during the study for each individual. A questionnaire was used to evaluate the final impression of the subjects about the TENS method. The groups were compared using chi-square or Kruskal Wallis test. The trend of pain score over the study time points were assessed using Generalised Estimating Equation (GEE).
Results: The mean age of the women were 27.86±5.92 years. There were no significant differences between the groups based on the pain scores over the study periods (p-value=0.588). There was a statistically significant difference between groups for satisfaction about the procedure and the placebo group had the lowest rate of tendency to reuse TENS at the future Labour (74%) compared to the other three groups (93-100%) (p-value=0.046).
Conclusion: Lumbar or Acupuncture points-TENS had no significant relieving effects on Labour pain among the participants.