OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of moxibustion at Sanyinjiao (SP 6) for uterine contraction pain in labor, and evaluate the safety of the parturient and newborn.

METHODSOne hundred and seventy-four cases of singleton pregnancy and cephalic presentation primipara were single blinded and randomly divided into three groups: observation group (59 cases), placebo treated group (57 cases) and blank group (58 cases). The observation group was treated with moxibustion at Sanyinjiao (SP 6) for 30 min when the uterus cervix openning at 3 cm, the placebo treated group was treated with moxibustion at no acupoint for 30 min and the blank group was treated with routine labor nursing, the uterine contraction pain and the safety of the mother and infant were compared among three groups.

RESULTS1) The uterine contraction pain was tested by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS): the scores of VAS in the observation group were obviously decreased after 15 min and 30 min of moxibustion (both P<0.05), there were no obvious changes of the VAS scores in placebo treated group and the blank group, the scores of VAS in observation group decreased much more obviously than those in the other two groups (all P<0.05); 2) Midwife rating of the uterine contraction pain: after 30 min of moxibustion, the effective rate of labor analgesia was 69.5% (41/59) in observation group, which was higher than that of 45.6% (26/57) in placebo treated group and 43.1% (25/58) in blank group, with significant differences between them (both P<0.05); 3) The postpartum hemorrhage amount of the observation group was obviously lower than those of placebo treated group and blank group (both P<0.05); 4) The Apgar score of newborn was higher in observation group and placebo treated group than that of blank group (both P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONMoxibustion at Sanyinjiao (SP 6) can relieve the uterine contraction pain, and has no side effect to mother and infant, it is one of the safe, effective and simple non-drug analgesia methods.