Open AccessThe Effect of Simultaneous Application of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) on Specific Lumbar and Acupuncture Points on Labour Pain Relief: A Randomised Clinical Trial
Author(s) -
Fatemeh Farjad Bastani,
Seyedeh Hajar Sharami,
Soudabeh Kazemi Aski,
Forozan Milani,
Bahareh Khakifirooz,
Maryam Shakiba,
Seyedeh Maryam Attari,
Tayebeh Omidkhah
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of clinical and diagnostic research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2249-782X
pISSN - 0973-709X
DOI - 10.7860/jcdr/2020/45744.14152
Subject(s) - transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation , acupuncture , medicine , visual analogue scale , placebo , physical therapy , lumbar , randomized controlled trial , gee , dry needling , pain relief , anesthesia , surgery , generalized estimating equation , alternative medicine , mathematics , statistics , pathology
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.