Effects of Pilates Ball and Sacral Massage Applications on Labor Pain, Labor Duration and Childbirth Satisfaction

Childbirth is one of the most special processes experienced in women's lives, significantly affecting their quality of life. Pain and fear experienced during the birth process are associated with many negative outcomes affecting the woman and the fetus/newborn, such as decreased childbirth satisfaction, preference for cesarean section, prolonged and difficult labor, and postpartum depression. Non-pharmacological methods that can be used to cope with labor pain are comfortable, safe, easy-to-use, and low-cost non-invasive methods that midwives can perform independently and in collaboration with the pregnant woman. Midwives working in delivery rooms should be able to apply non-pharmacological methods to cope with labor pain and should help teach and implement these methods by knowing their limitations and effects.

As researchers, we believe that Pilates ball and manual sacral massage applications can be easily and cost-free applied in maternity clinics in our country. For all these reasons, this study was planned as a randomized controlled study to evaluate the effects of Pilates ball and sacral massage applications in labor on labor pain, labor duration, and labor satisfaction.

The research will be carried out between December 1, 2024 and May 1, 2025 in two public hospitals affiliated with the Gaziantep Provincial Health Directorate. The sample of the research will consist of 35 pregnant women in the Pilates ball group, 35 in the sacral massage group and 35 in the control group, totaling 105 pregnant women who meet the criteria for inclusion in the research. Applications to the intervention groups will be made during the active phase of labor. Personal Information Form, Labor Monitoring Form, Application Monitoring Form to record the number and duration of applications, Visual Analog Scale to assess labor pain, Partograph to assess labor duration and Labor Satisfaction Scale to assess maternal satisfaction will be used in data collection. Data will be analyzed with tests appropriate to normal distribution characteristics in the SPSS 24 package program. At the end of the research, the effects of Pilates ball and sacral massage applications in labor on labor pain, labor duration and labor satisfaction will be evaluated.

Inclusion criteria

• Pregnant women over 18 years old and under 35 years old
• Term pregnancies (38-41 weeks gestation)
• Primiparous
• Those with a single live fetus
• Vertex development
• Those who do not have any risk factors during pregnancy (Dermatological disease, Preeclampsia, active membrane rupture, oligohydramnios and polyhydramnios, gestational diabetes, placental anomalies, intrauterine growth retardation, intrauterine dead fetus, macrosomic babies, fetal distress, etc.)
• Those who do not have any obstacles for Pilates ball application
• Those who do not have any chronic diseases (Hypertension, DM, ...)
• Those in the active phase of labor, those who have at least 1 hour of labor follow-up
• Pregnant women who voluntarily accept to participate in the study

Exclusion criteria

• Indications for Caesarean section (such as presentation disorder, breech presentation)
• Those who underwent induction
• Those whose labor duration was shorter than 1 hour or longer than 8 hours
• Those who underwent vacuum forceps or shoulder insertion