title: The effect of acupressure on sanyinjiao and hugo points on labor pain in nulliparous women: a randomized clinical trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Most women have experienced child birth and its pain, which is inevitable. If this pain is not controlled it leads to prolonged labor and injury to the mother and fetus. This study was conducted to identify the effect of acupressure on sanyinjiao and hugo points on delivery pain in nulliparous women.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a randomized controlled clinical trial on 84 nulliparous women in hospitals of Ardebil, Iran. The participants were divided by randomized blocks of 4 and 6 into two groups. The intervention was in the form of applying pressure at sanyinjiao and hugo points based on different dilatations. The intensity of the pain before and after the intervention was recorded by visual scale of pain assessment. To determine the effect of pressure on the intensity of labor pain, analytical descriptive test was conducted in SPSS (version 13).
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significant decrease in mean intensity of pain after each intervention in the experimental group with different dilatations (4, 6, 8, and 10 cm). Moreover, the Student's independent t-test results indicated that the mean intensity of pain in the experimental group after the intervention in all four dilatations was significantly lower than the control group. Repeated measures ANOVA test indicated that in both experimental and control groups in four time periods, there was a statistically significant difference.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Acupressure on sanyinjiao and hugo points decreases the labor pain. Therefore, this method can be used effectively in the labor process.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Fahimeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sehhatie-Shafaie
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Rafat
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kazemzadeh
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran.
authors.forename: Firouz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Amani
authors.affiliation: Acupuncturist and President, Iranian Scientific Acupuncture Association, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Heshmat
keywords: Acupressure; Hugo; Labor pain; Nulliparous women; Sanyinjiao