NCT03712800

Rhythmical Massage Compared With Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback in Women With Menstrual Pain (Dysmenorrhea)

Efficacy of Rhythmical Massage in Comparison to Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback in Women With Primary Dysmenorrhea - a Randomized, Controlled Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 60 (actual)
• Sponsor: ARCIM Institute Academic Research in Complementary and Integrative Medicine · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 16 Years – 46 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

A study to explore whether rhythmical massage and heart rate variability biofeedback can help to reduce pain in women suffering from menstrual pain (dysmenorrhea).

Detailed description

This is a three-arm randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of rhythmical massage and HRV biofeedback in women with primary dysmenorrhea compared to a control group. The main focus is on pain intensity during menstruation. Moreover, analgesics intake, SF-12 mental and physical scores and parameters of a 24h-HRV measurement are assessed before and after the three-month intervention.

Conditions

• Primary Dysmenorrhea

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Rhythmical massage	Rhythmical Massage according to Dr Ita Wegman, derived from Swedish Massage in the 1920s. Applied for various indications in the context of Anthroposophic Medicine, aiming at a recovery of self-regulation and self-healing forces.
BEHAVIORAL	HRV biofeedback	One of various biofeedback types, HRV biofeedback gives a visual feedback of the participant's heart rate variability as an indicator for general health, physical and cognitive performance, self-regulation and a decreased risk of illness.

Timeline

• Start date: 2012-02-01
• Primary completion: 2014-03-01
• Completion: 2014-03-01
• First posted: 2018-10-19
• Last updated: 2018-10-19

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Germany