Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation and Pain of Labor Among Nulliparous Women: A Clinical Trial

Introduction: Most women experience labor pain during childbirth. Severe labor pain causes long-term emotional disturbances in women and disrupts their mental health. It can negatively affect the mother and child relationship in post-delivery days, disrupt the family relationship and create the fear of future pregnancies. Moreover, labor pain causes fetal asphyxia followed by abnormal heart beat in the fetus and a low Apgar score. This study aimed to investigate the effect of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation on labor pain among nulliparous women referred to a hospital in an urban area of Iran.Materials and methods: Samples were consisted of 90 nulliparous women. They were randomly assigned into three groups with equal number in each group: experiment group, placebo group and control. The data collection tool was consisted of the demographic factor Form, the Visual Analogue Severity Scale. This scale was a 10-cm line graded from 1 to 10. Zero stood for a lack of pain and 10 indicated extremely severe pain.Findings: Study result shows that there were no statistically significant differences with respect to age, education level, job, place of residence, planned pregnancy, kind of delivery, age of pregnancy, body mass index, and pre-intervention pain. The mean of the severity of labor pain indicated a statistically significant difference after the intervention. The mean of the severity of pain 1 h after the intervention was 6.4 (SD = 2.14) 1 h after the intervention in the experiment group. It was 8.4 (SD = 1.38) and 8.2 (SD = 1.6) in the placebo and control groups, respectively. The mean of the severity of pain showed statistically significant differences between the groups 2, 3 and 4 h after the intervention (p = 0.000). The severity of pain indicated a statistically significant difference in the second stage of labor, and 4 h after the labor in the groups. The duration of the first stage of labor was significantly different between the groups.Discussion &Conclusion: According to the findings of the present study, the severity of labor pain was not significantly different in the studied groups before the intervention. However, 1 h after the intervention, the severity of pain was significantly different in the experiment group compared with the placebo and control groups as TENS reduced labor pain. The application of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation affected pain relief in the first and second stages of labor and 4 h after labor.

Keywords:

TENS , Nulliparous , Labor , Pain