Abstract:
Background. The pain that women experience during labour is affected by multiple physiological and psychosocial
factors and its intensity can greatly vary. The labour pain has been reported to be the most severe pain that a woman
experiences in her lifetime. Most women in labour require pain relief.
A wide range of pain management methods is used by women during childbirth. Commonly, these include nonpharmacological interventions (hypnosis, biofeedback, intracutaneous or subcutaneous sterile water injection, immersion in water, aromatherapy, relaxation techniques (yoga, music, audio), acupuncture or acupressure, manual methods
(massage, reflexology), transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)) and pharmacological interventions (inhaled analgesia, opioids, nonopioid drugs, local anaesthetic nerve blocks, epidural and intrathecal injections of local
anaesthetics or opioids, or both).
Conclusions. During pregnancy, women should be told about the benefits and potential adverse effects their babies
and on themselves of the different methods of pain control.
Most methods of non-pharmacological pain management are non-invasive and appear to be safe for mother and baby.
Overall, women should feel free to choose whatever pain management they think would help them most during
labour. Also, women who choose non-drug pain management shouldn't hesitate, if needed, to move onto a drug intervention.
