Endorphin at Labor Pain and Acupressure

The Impact of Different Acupressure Procedures Performed on the Hand During Labor on Endorphin Levels and Labor Pain Perception: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT04367038

Enrollment

140

Registered

2020-04-29

Start date

2019-04-25

Completion date

2020-01-08

Last updated

2020-04-29

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Labor Pain

Keywords

acupressure, labor pain, Midwifery, pregnant women, endorphins, warm acupressure, cold acupressure

Brief summary

This study was performed to determine the impact of different acupressure procedures, performed on women's hands during labor, on endorphin levels and labor pain perception. The sample consisted of 140 pregnant women. The study was conducted with three experimental groups and one control group, each including 35 pregnant women. Conventional acupressure and warm and cold acupressure procedures were performed on the Large Intestinal 4 energy meridian zone acupressure point of the experimental group. No procedures were performed on the women in the control group. Data were collected using a Personal Information Form, Labor Intervention Follow-up Form, Visual Analog Scale and Verbal Category Scale. The comparison between the experimental and control groups indicated that the conventional acupressure procedure was effective in reducing labor pain and that the warm acupressure procedure increased endorphin levels.

Interventions

OTHERWarm Acupressure, Cold Acupressure , Conventional Acupressure

Acupressure is non-invasive, safe and effective.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

FEMALE

Age

18 Years to 45 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Being a primipara * Having intact membranes * No skin diseases (such as urticaria...), * No use of narcotic drugs * Having a term pregnancy * Having a single fetus at vertex position * Planning to have vaginal delivery * Having contractions and ongoing regular augmentation * Having recent augmentation starting periods * Being in the latent phase (0-3 cm dilatation) * Having no history of high-risk pregnancy * Not using analgesic drugs to reduce pain during delivery * Having no systemic and neurologic diseases * Having no contraction anomaly (hypotonic or hypertonic contractions)

Exclusion criteria

Having any of the above criteria. \-

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
labor pain	through study completion, an average of 1month	pain scale
endorphin levels	through study completion, an average of 1month	physiological parameter

Countries

Turkey (Türkiye)

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026