title: Effect of Massage Therapy on Duration of Labour: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Massage is an old technique that is widely used in childbirth and can decrease the childbirth pain by reducing the adrenaline and noradrenaline and increasing the endorphins and oxytocin and reduce the childbirth duration by increasing the uterine contractions. Therefore.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study is aimed to evaluate the effect of massage therapy on the duration of labour.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study was performed as randomized controlled clinical trial method on 100 pregnant women referred to maternity ward in Fatemieh Hospital, Shahroud. Subjects with inclusion criteria and who were interested to participate in the study were placed in one of the test or control groups based on pre-specified sequence. Questionnaires were completed in several stages. Data analysis was conducted using chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, independent t-test, Mann-Whitney test and multivariate linear regression in SPSS-21software. In data analysis, p < 0.05 was considered significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results of multivariate linear regression showed that the duration of the first and second stage labour in the massage receiving group is significantly decreased compared to the test group (p= 0.004 and p= 0.02, respectively). In addition, the Apgar scores at minutes 1 and 5 in test group is significantly increased compared to control group (p <0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings of this study showed that massage therapy during labour will lead to shortening of the first and second stage labour duration and improve Apgar scores at the first and fifth minutes. By shortening the duration of labour, pregnant women tend to have more normal vaginal delivery.
authors.affiliation: Faculty, Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences , Shahroud, Iran .
authors.forename: Nahid
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bolbol-Haghighi
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Midwifery, Research Center for Child and Maternity Care, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences , Hamadan, Iran .
authors.forename: Seyedeh Zahra
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Masoumi
authors.affiliation: PhD Student of Reproductive Health, Department of Midwifery & Reproductive Health, School of Nursing & Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences , Tehran, Iran .
authors.forename: Farideh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kazemi
keywords: Apgar score; First stage labour; Second stage labour