ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Family Medicine and Primary Care
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1609500
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancements and Optimization of Evidence-Based Approaches in Pain ManagementView all 4 articles
Effectiveness of Fu's Subcutaneous Needling Combined with Muscle Energy Technique for Postpartum Perineal Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, YueBei People’s Hospital, Shaoguan, China
- 2Shaoguan First People's Hospital, Shaoguan, China
- 3Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, China
- 4Gannan Health Vocational College, Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, China
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Background: Perineal pain after natural childbirth is a common problem among women after delivery, significantly impairing patients' quality of life and increasing familial burden. This study evaluates the efficacy of Fu's subcutaneous needling combined with Muscle Energy Technique (FSN+MET) on perineal wound pain after natural childbirth. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted at Yuebei People's Hospital. Seventy women experiencing perineal wound pain following spontaneous vaginal delivery in the hospital's Obstetrics Department between January 2023 and December 2024 were enrolled. Participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention group or a control group (35 per group) using a random number table. The control group received conventional rehabilitation plus MET, while the intervention group received FSN in addition to conventional rehabilitation and MET. Pain improvement was assessed after 5 days of treatment. Results: The efficacy of FSN + MET was assessed using the Number Rating Scale (NRS), Activities of Daily Living (ADL), Fugl-Meyer Lower Limb Motor Function Score (FMA), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Satisfaction survey of treatment effect. Before treatment, there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding age, days of gestation, postpartum pain scores, NRS score, FMA lower limb score, ADL, SAS, and Satisfaction (P>0.05). Following treatment, the FSN + MET group showed significantly greater improvements in NRS, FMA, ADL, and SAS scores compared to the control group (P<0.05). This demonstrates that FSN + MET is superior to conventional methods in alleviating perineal wound pain, improving mobility, enhancing quality of life, and reducing anxiety in patients after spontaneous delivery. Conclusion: FSN+MET effectively reduces postpartum perineal pain and improves functional recovery.
Keywords: Fu's Subcutaneous Needling, Muscle energy technique, Postpartum perineal pain, randomized controlled trial, Perineal rehabilitation, lateral episiotomy
Received: 10 Apr 2025; Accepted: 12 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shao, Zhanxiang, Shi, He, Han and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Dongmiao Han, Gannan Health Vocational College, Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, China
Zicai Liu, Shaoguan First People's Hospital, Shaoguan, China
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