5. Conclusion
Our findings suggest that although ice massage and acupressure
methods reduced labor pain, due to the physiological increase in
pain intensity in the active phase of the labor, the interventions
should be repeated every 30 min. Ice massage was more effective
than acupressure in pain reduction, and should be considered as
a simple, inexpensive, available, tool for helping to minimize labor
pain. Ice massage has the advantage of no side effects, requires no
advanced training and can be performed in remote regions where
limited access to medical methods and professionals is available.
Conflict of interest statement
None.
Acknowledgements
This manuscript was extracted from a nursing MSc thesis. The
authors are very grateful to all participants for their kind cooperation.
They also wish to thank the Nursing Faculty of Baqiyatallah
University of Medical Sciences for their support.