Multimedia-Guided Self-Acupressure for Dysmenorrhea

Exploring the Effectiveness of Multimedia-Guided Self-Acupressure on Sanyinjiao (SP6) for Pain Relief in Young Women with Dysmenorrhea

Background: Up to 84% of women of reproductive age experience primary dysmenorrhea, a gynecological issue. Approximately 15% of those affected by dysmenorrhea require sick leave from school or work due to severe pain, impacting both quality of life and causing substantial economic losses. Dysmenorrhea is typically categorized into primary and secondary types; this study focuses on primary dysmenorrhea. Primary dysmenorrhea occurs mainly during the ovulatory phase and is characterized by intense, crampy spasms, often accompanied by symptoms such as headaches, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. Acupressure massage is convenient, relatively safe, cost-effective, and can be enhanced through multimedia instruction to improve learning efficiency, accommodate individual needs, and overcome temporal and spatial limitations. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of multimedia-assisted acupressure at the Sanyinjiao acupoint for alleviating primary dysmenorrhea.

Purposes: To investigate the effectiveness of multimedia-guided acupressure at the Sanyinjiao acupoint in improving primary dysmenorrhea among young women.

Research method: This study employs a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design over a three-month period. Participants will be recruited from two selected colleges in central Taiwan through voluntary enrollment. It is anticipated that each group, experimental and control, will consist of 22 participants. The experimental group will receive general multimedia health education videos along with self-made multimedia videos teaching acupressure at the Sanyinjiao acupoint. Treatment will commence one week before the menstrual cycle and continue until the 5th day of menstruation. On the other hand, the control group received general multimedia health education videos only.

Results: The data will be analyzed by SPSS 28.0 statistical software. Statistical methods will include descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation analysis. Inferential statistics will include independent t-tests, chi-square tests, and paired t-tests to compare menstrual pain conditions before and after the intervention and the differences between the two groups.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Primary Dysmenorrhea, Acupressure, Sanyinjiao (SP6), Multimedia, Traditional Chinese Medicine
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Self-Acupressure

Detailed Description

Background: Up to 84% of women of reproductive age experience primary dysmenorrhea, a gynecological issue. Approximately 15% of those affected by dysmenorrhea require sick leave from school or work due to severe pain, impacting both quality of life and causing substantial economic losses. Dysmenorrhea is typically categorized into primary and secondary types; this study focuses on primary dysmenorrhea. Primary dysmenorrhea occurs mainly during the ovulatory phase and is characterized by intense, crampy spasms, often accompanied by symptoms such as headaches, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. Acupressure massage is convenient, relatively safe, cost-effective, and can be enhanced through multimedia instruction to improve learning efficiency, accommodate individual needs, and overcome temporal and spatial limitations. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of multimedia-assisted acupressure at the Sanyinjiao acupoint for alleviating primary dysmenorrhea.

Purposes: To investigate the effectiveness of multimedia-guided acupressure at the Sanyinjiao acupoint in improving primary dysmenorrhea among young women.

Research method: This study employs a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design over a three-month period. Participants will be recruited from two selected colleges in central Taiwan through voluntary enrollment. It is anticipated that each group, experimental and control, will consist of 22 participants. The experimental group will receive general multimedia health education videos along with self-made multimedia videos teaching acupressure at the Sanyinjiao acupoint. Treatment will commence one week before the menstrual cycle and continue until the 5th day of menstruation. On the other hand, the control group received general multimedia health education videos only.

Results: The data will be analyzed by SPSS 28.0 statistical software. Statistical methods will include descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation analysis. Inferential statistics will include independent t-tests, chi-square tests, and paired t-tests to compare menstrual pain conditions before and after the intervention and the differences between the two groups.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 46
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Jui-Fen Cheng; Phone Number: 7118 886-4-22053366; Email: feny@mail.cmu.edu.tw

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1) Age: 18-30 years old; (2) Regular menstrual cycles (21-38 days); (3) Experienced dysmenorrhea in at least one of the past three months, with a self-reported pain score of >3 on the VAS scale.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Diagnosed with pelvic organic diseases by a physician, such as endometriosis, adenomyosis, endometrial polyps, etc.;
2. Pregnant or breastfeeding women;
3. History of gynecological surgery;
4. Contraindications to acupoint massage, such as thrombocytopenia with bleeding tendency, local infection or inflammation at the massage site, excessive weakness, etc.;
5. Already capable of using acupoint massage to relieve pain;
6. Students enrolled in the course taught by the principal investigator.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Multimedia-Guided Acupressure at Sanyinjiao for Primary Dysmenorrhea; Intervention: Self-Acupressure (Multimedia-Guided)	Behavioral: Self-Acupressure; Both groups received general health education videos. The experimental group performed SP6 acupressure starting one week before menstruation, 10 minutes per session, twice daily, until the fifth day of menstruation. The control group maintained their usual routines.
No Intervention: Control Group; The control group maintained their usual routines

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) pain scores	using the VAS pain scores before and after the intervention	3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: China Medical University, Taiwan
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Jui-Fen Cheng, China Medical University, China

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): March 6, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 10, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 10, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 10, 2025
• Last Verified: March 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pain; Neurologic Manifestations; Pathologic Processes; Pelvic Pain; Menstruation Disturbances; Dysmenorrhea
• Other Study ID Numbers: CMUH113-REC3-133

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No