Ice Massage for the Reduction of Labor Pain

Waters, Bette L. CNM, RN
Raisler, Jeanne CNM, DrPH, FACNM

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

Correspondence to Address correspondence to Bette L. Waters, CNM, RN, 1504 South Silver Street, Deming, NM 88030.

Bette L. Waters, CNM, RN, is the author of Vaginal Politics: A Midwife's Story, Bluwaters Press, Deming, NM, 2003, and Massage During Pregnancy, 3rd Edition, Sundance Press, Inc, El Paso, TX, 1998. She is also a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) for the SANE Project, LaPinon Rape Recovery Center, Las Cruces, NM.

Jeanne Raisler, CNM, DrPH, FACNM, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, where she teaches Midwifery and Complementary and Alternative Medicine. She is a consultant to the Global AIDS Program of the Health Resources and Services Administration and Chair of the American College of Nurse-Midwives Division of Research.

Journal of Midwifery and Women'S Health 48(5):p 317-321, September-October 2003. | DOI: 10.1016/S1526-9523(03)00277-0

The current study investigated the use of ice massage of the acupressure energy meridian point large intestine 4 (LI4) to reduce labor pain during contractions. LI4 is located on the medial midpoint of the first metacarpal, within 3 to 4 mm of the web of skin between the thumb and forefinger. A one-group, pretest, posttest design was chosen, which used 100-mm Visual Analog Scales (VAS) and the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) ranked numerically and verbally to measure pain levels; the pretest served as the control. Study participants were Hispanic and white Medicaid recipients who received prenatal care at a women's clinic staffed by certified nurse-midwives and obstetricians. Participants noted a pain reduction mean on the VAS of 28.22 mm on the left hand and 11.93 mm on the right hand. The postdelivery ranked MPQ dropped from number 3 (distressing) to number 2 (discomforting). The study results suggest that ice massage is a safe, noninvasive, nonpharmacological method of reducing labor pain.