title: Effect of acupressure on fatigue in women with multiple sclerosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common cause of progressive neurological disability. The prevalence of MS is much more common in women than men. The women are exposed to a variety of symptoms including fatigue. Acupressure is a noninvasive procedure that can be used to control symptoms including fatigue. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of acupressure on fatigue in women with multiple sclerosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A randomized clinical trial was conducted on 100 women with MS at Tehran MS Association. The subjects were equally allocated to experimental group and a placebo group (50 women per group) by blocking randomization method. The experimental group were received acupressure, at the true points (ST36, SP6, LI4) and the placebo group, were received touching at the same points. Fatigue was measured by a Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) in the groups at immediately prior to, two and four weeks after the beginning of the intervention. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics by SPSS version 17.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The findings indicated no differences in demographic characteristics and the severity of fatigue at the baseline in two groups (p=0.54). But there were significant reductions of the mean score of fatigue in the experimental group compared to the placebo group immediately, two and four weeks after the intervention respectively (p=0.03, p?0/001, p=0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to the findings, the study provided an alternative method for health care providers including nurses to train acupressure to the clients with MS to managing their fatigue.
authors.forename: Farideh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bastani
authors.forename: Marzie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sobhani
authors.affiliation: Tehran university of medical sciences. emamzade@sina.tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Hormat Sadat
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Emamzadeh Ghasemi
mesh_terms: D019050:Acupressure / Q000379:methods*; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005221:Fatigue / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome