the effectiveness of physical therapy techniques in the second stage of labor on perineal trauma in nulliparous women referring to the teaching hospitalof emam khomeini – khalkhal

the effectiveness of physical therapy techniques in the second stage of labor on perineal trauma in nulliparous women referring to the teaching hospitalof emam khomeini – khalkhal     sohrabi m [1] , ivan bagha r [2] *, shirinkam r [3]     received: 18feb, 2012 accepted: 6may 2012     abstract   background & aims : perineal trauma is common outcome of vaginal birth, and can cause short term and long term problems for new mothers. the aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of physical therapy techniques during child birth on severity and degree ofperineal ruptures and also its effect on the amount of stitches required for perineal repair following perineal trauma in nulliparous women.   materials & methods : this randomized clinical trial study (rct) carried out on 120 nulliparous women that expecting normal birth of singletonfetuses they were randomly selected and divided into three groups two physical therapy techniques (warm compresses and massage perineal) and one control groups ( 40 women for each group). all processes have done during the second stage of labor. midwife held a clean, wash and warm cloths to the mother’s perineum and her external genitalia for the warm compress group, during and between pushes. woman in the massage group received massage and stretching of the perineum with each contraction. in the control group, women received ritgen&apos;s maneuver, routine and standard care for the second stage of labor. the data have been analyzed with descriptive statistical methods, anova, chi-square test and non parametric test, kruskal -wallis, using spss 15/0 (p<0/05 was significant).   result : our finding indicated that there were not any significant differences regarding to the severity and degree ofperineal ruptures (p= 0/513), the rate of the lacerations in the anterior perineal region (p=0/134) and the amount of stitches required for perineal repair (p=0/775) among three groups.   conclusion: the practice of the physical therapy techniques in the second stage of labor cannot probably prevent from perineal trauma.   key words: perineal trauma, warm compresses, massage perineal, ritgen maneuver     address: faculty of nursing & midwifery, shahidashrafi-esfahanistr, khalkhal   tel : ( +98)4525234041, fax : ( +98)4524234042, 09144007581   email: [email protected]   [1] mscin midwifery, khalkhal islamic azaduniversity, ardabil, iran   [2] msc in midwifery, khalkhalfaculty of nursing & midwifery, ardabil university of medical sciences, ardabil, iran, (corresponding author)   [3] obstetrician and gynecologist, emam khomeini educating health center of khalkhal, ardabil, iran