The effect of reflexology on labor pain: A systematic review and meta analysis of randomized controlled clinical trial studies
Abstract Introduction: Labor pain is one of the most severe pains which has ever evaluated therefore pain relief care for mothers during labor is very important Reflexology is one of the non pharmacological methods of pain management This meta analysis was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of reflexology on labor pain reduction in primiparous women. Method: In this meta analysis, the databases of Web of Knowledge, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, Iranmedex, Sciencedirect, Ovid, PubMed Google scholar ,Scientific Information Database (SID) and Magiran were searched for published articles in English and Persian language up to June 2018. Data were analyzed by using Stata software version 11, and the pooled mean difference with random effects model was used for meta analyses. Result: seven relevant research studies that met the inclusion criteria were identified. we found a significant association between reflexology and pain intensity in after intervention (MD= 0.54, 95% CI: 1.08 to 0.004) 6 8 cm dilation (MD= 2.29, 95% CI: 2.52 to 2.07) 8 10 cm dilation (MD= 1.03, 95% CI: 1.21 to 0.85) one hour after intervention (MD= 1.55, 95% CI: 2.94 to 0.16) two hours after intervention (MD= 2.81, 95% CI: 3.27 to 2.35) and in second stage subgroup (MD= 2.14, 95% CI: 4.61 to 0.33) Conclusion: This study showed reflexology is an effective method in labor pain relief. Therefore reflexology can be used to reduce labor pain. Keywords: Clinical trial; reflexology Labor pain