The effects of acupressure on severity of primary dysmenorrhea

BACKGROUND: Dysmenorrhea constitutes one of the most frequent disorders in women of a fertile age. The objective of this research was to determine the effects of acupressure at Sanyinjiao (SP6) point and DiJi (SP8) point on pain severity of primary dysmenorrhea and the associated systemic symptoms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this crossover clinical trial, 50 females aged 18–30 years old who met the study criteria and were under the care of Sarpolezahab Health Center were selected. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two groups and evaluated during three menstrual cycles. We evaluated pain severity using the McGill pain scale and associated systemic symptoms using a verbal multidimensional scoring system. Data acquired from 42 cases were analyzed using SPSS software, with a P value of <0.05 considered significant. RESULTS: The findings of our study indicate that the severity of dysmenorrhea pain diminishes significantly for up to 2 hours following treatment with acupressure at the SP6 and SP8 points (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the severity of associated systemic symptoms reduced significantly after acupressure at the SP6 and SP8 points, except for nausea and vomiting. Comparison of the severity of systemic symptoms with acupressure at the SP6 and SP8 points revealed no significant difference except for severity of fatigue, which was reduced significantly further with SP6 point compared to SP8 point (P = 0.004). CONCLUSION: Acupressure at the SP6 and SP8 points can reduce pain severity of dysmenorrhea for up to 2 hours after application, and these points may be used to alleviate the severity of systemic symptoms accompanying dysmenorrhea.