OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to determine if a back massage therapy received by a pregnant woman during their third trimester has any effects on the mother or the fetal well-being,
METHODOLOGY: This is a one-qroup pretest-posttest experimental study, which included 100 consenting pregnant women in the 28·40 weeks of pregnancy, conducted at a tertiary care referral center and university. Pre- and post-back massage pain was assessed and the fetal heart rate tracings as to fetal heart rate; fetal heart rate variability, accelerations and decelerations; fetal movement and uterine contractions were evaluated.
RESULTS: This study included 100 pregnant women with mean age of gestation of 35.26 ± 3.66 weeks. Mean pre-massage back pain score was reduced from 3.20 to 1.43 after the massage (P.value = 0.000). The mean pre- and post- back massage: fetal heart rates (137.34 ± 8.04 vs 135.95 ± 7.06 beats per minute; P·value = 0.091); fetal heart rate accelerations (6.89 ± 3.52 vs 6.03 + 3.20; P·value = 0.061); and the number of uterine contractions (mean = 0.87 ± 1.37 vs 0.94 ± 1.41; P·value = 0.640) were recorded and did not vary significantly. All subjects expressed favorable remarks and no subject indicated having experienced any untoward effects during the massage sessions.
CONCLUSION: Back massage therapy received by a pregnant woman during the 28·40 weeks of pregnancy was found to have reduced levels of back pain after the massage and was found not to have any adverse effect on fetal well being.