Effects of electro-acupuncture on labor pain management

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of a non-pharmacologic electro-acupuncture method at different acupoints on labor pain management.

Methods: Nulliparous women under the maternity care of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital were recruited and allocated into two experimental groups (EX-B2 group and SP6 group) and one control group, each with 60 eligible participants. Visual analog scale (VAS) was used to assess the pain during active phase of labor before and 30, 60, 120 min after intervention. The duration of active phase, the duration of second stage of labor, the duration of third stage of labor, use of oxytocin, neonatal birth weight, neonatal Apgar score at 1 and 5 min were considered as secondary outcomes of this study.

Results: After 30 min intervention, the mean VAS scores of both EX-B2 group and SP6 group were significantly decreased compared with the control group (P < 0.01); however, no significant difference was observed between the two experimental groups (P > 0.05). After 60 and 120 min intervention, the mean VAS scores of EX-B2 group were significantly lower than SP-6 group (P < 0.05). Both EX-B2 group and SP6 group had significant lower VAS scores after interventions and shorter time used in active phase of labor than the control group (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: The study revealed that the application of electro-acupuncture at EX-B2 and SP6 acupoints could be used as a non-pharmacologic method to reduce labor pain and shorten the duration of active phase of labor.