Reflexology in Childbirth Pain Management

Hadis Rahimi; Hossein Elyasi; Nasrin Galehdar

doi:10.18502/acta.v59i6.6888

Hadis Rahimi Department of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran
Hossein Elyasi Department of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran
Nasrin Galehdar Department of Surgical Technology, School of Paramedicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/acta.v59i6.6888

Keywords: Childbirth pain; Complementary medicine; Reflexology

Abstract

This study was conducted to review the related articles and draw a final conclusion regarding the application of reflexology for delivery (labor and cesarean section) pain management in women all over the world. In this systematic review, relevant articles were searched in Google Scholar, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Science Direct, and Scopus databases from the year 2000 to 2018. All the human clinical trials that examined the effects of reflexology methods on delivery pain (labor or Cesarean section) were included, and others were excluded from the study. All the 18 included original articles (with 1391 patients) reported that reflexology significantly reduces the pain of delivery, confirming its decreasing effect on labor, Cesarean section, and post-delivery pain. Results of all articles showed that if true reflexology is performed on the right location of the body and at the appropriate time, the pain of delivery can be significantly decreased. Reflexology is appropriate pain relief and prophylaxis for any kind of pain, especially delivery and post-delivery pain. It is a safe remedy with no adverse effects reported so far.