Effectiveness of Additional Self-care Acupressure for Women With Menstrual Pain Compared to Usual Care Alone

Menstrual pain is a common problem in young women and one of the the main reasons of short term absence from school or work. There is some evidence that acupuncture and acupressure might be successful in treating of menstrual pain. Compared with acupuncture, acupressure offers the possibility for women with menstrual pain to do self-care treatment at home. However, studies have been small and self-care acupressure had been only investigated in one study from Taiwan.

Inclusion criteria

• Women with dysmenorrhea as defined as cramping pain during every menstrual cycle
• Age: 18 to 25 years
• Up to now no prior history of a gynecological disease that could be a reason for dysmenorrhea
• Women with menstruation in the last six weeks and a duration of menstruation cycles between 3 and 6 weeks
• Women with moderate and severe pain defined as a score equal or higher than 6 on the numeric rating scale for the worst pain intensity during the last menstruation.
• Written and oral informed consent
• Women must be able to complete the baseline questionnaire in paper form, the electronic questionnaire via App and a electronic diary via App.
• Presence of a Smartphone and agreement to do data entry through the App

Exclusion criteria

• Acupressure, acupuncture, shiatsu- or/and tuina massage at the moment or planned in the next 8 months
• Known or planned pregnancy in the next 8 months.