Sacral Massage With a Tennis Ball on Labor Pain and Comfort During the Intrapartum Period

The Effect of Sacral Massage With a Tennis Ball on Labor Pain and Comfort During the Intrapartum Period

Although pregnancy and labor are physiological events, the pain caused by uterine contractions during labor is among the most severe pains. This causes many women to fear labor. For this reason, control of labor pain should be one of the main goals of the care given to women in labor. Therefore, this study was designed to determine the effect of sacral massage with a tennis ball on labor pain and labor comfort in the intrapartum period.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Labor Pain; Pain Management; Massage Effect; Birth Comfort
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: sacral massage with tennis ball

Detailed Description

Pregnant women hospitalized in the maternity unit will be evaluated for compliance with the inclusion criteria. Women who meet the inclusion criteria and are willing to participate in the study will be randomized according to the simple random numbers table and the study group will be determined by the researcher by drawing lots. The purpose and stages of the study will be explained verbally to the women whose group is determined and the women will be asked to read and sign the Informed Voluntary Consent Form. Then, the Pregnancy Identification Form will be filled in by the researchers using the face-to-face interview method. Then the massage will be explained to the pregnant women in the experimental group and they will be asked to evaluate the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) before the procedure. While performing this application, the researcher will apply pressure to the sacral region with a tennis ball in a circular motion in a way that the patient can feel but not feel pain. The application will be applied to the pregnant woman for a total of 3 contractions. 30 minutes after each procedure, the woman will be asked to mark the intensity of the pain she feels on the VAS scale and to mark the Birth Comfort Scale.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 140
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• To be able to read and write Turkish,
• Being over 18 years old
• Being primiparous
• Singular foetus and head presentation
• Pregnancy at term (37-42 weeks)
• Those without risk factors during pregnancy
• Being in the active phase of labour in stage 1
• Women without any chronic diseases
• Those without a diagnosed psychiatric illness
• To agree to participate in the research

Exclusion Criteria:

• If the participant wishes to leave the study voluntarily
• Administration of any analgesic medication to reduce pain during labour
• Development of any of the unexpected maternal-fetal risk conditions during labour
• Having a caesarean section for any reason
• The pregnant woman has spine and bone structure problems.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Triple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: sacral massage with a tennis ball; When the cervical dilatation in labor is 5-6 cm, 7-8 cm and 9-10 cm, the woman will be asked to mark the intensity of the pain she feels on the VAS scale before starting the procedure. Then, the researcher explains sacral massage to the pregnant woman. While performing this application, the researcher will apply pressure to the sacral area with a tennis ball in a circular motion so that the patient can feel but not feel pain. The application will be applied to the pregnant woman for a total of 3 contractions. 30 minutes after each procedure, the woman will be asked again to mark the intensity of the pain she feels on the VAS scale and to mark the Birth Comfort Scale.	Other: sacral massage with tennis ball; When the cervical dilatation in labor is 5-6 cm, 7-8 cm and 9-10 cm, the woman will be asked to mark the intensity of the pain she feels on the VAS scale before starting the procedure. Then, the researcher explains sacral massage to the pregnant woman. While performing this application, the researcher will apply pressure to the sacral area with a tennis ball in a circular motion so that the patient can feel but not feel pain. The application will be applied to the pregnant woman for a total of 3 contractions. 30 minutes after each procedure, the woman will be asked to mark the intensity of the pain she feels on the VAS scale and mark the Birth Comfort Scale. The research will end when a total of 70 experimental groups and 70 control groups are reached.
No Intervention: control groups; Pregnant women in the control group will not undergo any intervention other than routine hospital practices.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Labor pain	Visual Analog Scale (VAS) is a scale to measure pain and other subjective symptoms. It was as first introduced by Hayes and Patterson in 1921. The Scale maximum point is 10 and minimum point is zero. And as the scale score increases, the pain measure also increases.When cervical dilatation is 5-6 cm, the pregnant woman is asked to mark her pain score on a VAS (Visual Analog Scale) score from one to ten, and then massage is applied. After 30 minutes of massage, the pregnant woman is asked to rate the pain score on the VAS (Visual Analog Scale).	Cervical dilatation will assses from 5-6 cm, 7-8 cm and 9-10 cm until delivery.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
birth comfort	Childbirth Comfort Questionnaire is a scale for assessing childbirth comfort. The validity and reliability of the scale was made by Potur et al. in 2014. The Scale maximum point is 45 and minumum point is nine. And as the scale score increases, the comfort level also increases. When cervical dilatation is 5-6 cm, the pregnant woman is asked to check the appropriate options on the 9-item scale on the CCQ. We want this procedure to be done three times in total when the pregnant woman is 5-6 cm, 7-8 cm and 9-10 cm.	Cervical dilatation will assses from 5-6 cm, 7-8 cm and 9-10 cm until delivery.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Istanbul University - Cerrahpasa

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): June 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): March 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 12, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 21, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): March 27, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 13, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 10, 2025
• Last Verified: March 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: labor pain; pain management; sacral massage; tennis ball; comfort of birth; reducing pain
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pain; Neurologic Manifestations; Labor Pain
• Other Study ID Numbers: IUC-EBE-EA-01

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