• J Altern Complement Med · Apr 2013

    Randomized Controlled Trial

    Auricular acupressure for pain relief in adolescents with dysmenorrhea: a placebo-controlled study.

    • Mei-Ling Yeh, Yu-Ling Hung, Hsing-Hsia Chen, and Yu-Jen Wang.
    • School of Nursing, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
    • J Altern Complement Med. 2013 Apr 1; 19 (4): 313-8.

    ObjectivesPrimary dysmenorrhea is a common problem among menstruating adolescents and young women. It may cause physical distress and result in school absenteeism and reduced physical activity. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of auricular acupressure on menstrual pain and distress in adolescents with dysmenorrhea.DesignA single-blind, placebo-controlled design was used.Setting/LocationParticipants were obtained from one senior high school in northern Taiwan.SubjectsOne hundred and thirteen (113) adolescent participants with primary dysmenorrhea were recruited and assigned to the experimental or control group by a coin toss.InterventionThe experimental group received auricular acupressure applied to six true acupoints (shenmen, Kidney, Liver, Internal Genitals, Central Rim, and Endocrine). The control group received six sham acupoints without effects on dysmenorrhea. All participants were instructed to press each acupoint for 1 minute, 4 times a day for 2 days.Outcome MeasuresThe outcomes were assessed by rating dysmenorrhea severity on a visual analogue scale (VAS) and using the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) and Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ).ResultsBetween-group differences were found in VAS and MDQ after the interventions. Within-group differences were found in the score changes of VAS, MDQ, and SF-MPQ during the interventions for both groups.ConclusionsAuricular acupressure relieves menstrual pain and distress in high-school adolescents. The findings may serve as a basis for using auricular acupressure to treat dysmenorrhea in adolescents. There was pain reduction with sham as well as with true acupoint acupressure, but the latter was significantly greater. The sham acupoint may not be used as a control for auricular acupoint and qualitative evaluation of dysmenorrhea should be added to the evaluation by SF-MPQ in future studies.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…