Management and control of labor pain is
a main objective of obstetric care and support
(6). Attending to reducing the labor pain and
paving the way for application of pain-reduction methods in hospitals and birth centers throughout the country will enhance mothers’ acceptance of natural labor (5, 7). Generally speaking, there are two methods in use for reducing the labor pain: pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches (8). The pharmacological methods include systemic medication, general anesthesia, inhalational anesthesia, and topical anesthesia, while light therapy, aromatherapy, reflexology, hypnotism, massage, and acupuncture fall under the category of non-pharmacological methods (9). Simkin and Bolding believe that non-pharmacological methods should be preferred over the pharmacological ones for reasons of their lower cost, ease of application, non-invasiveness, the feeling of self-esteem it brings to women, and finally, patients’ participation (10).