Efficacy of Aromatherapy for Reducing Pain During Labor: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Aromatherapy is a type of an alternative medicine practice that involves the use of fragrant or aromatic essential oils derived from a broad variety of healing plants. The essential oils are administered either through inhalation or application to the skin. Aromatherapy has been proven to provide solutions to various health problems including pain management, relaxation, and reducing fear and anxiety (Smith, Collins, & Crowther, 2011 a). One form of pains that aromatherapy is used to manage is labor pains. A research study conducted to measure the effectiveness of aromatherapy in reducing labor pains revealed that the practice is helpful in reducing pain but in the latent and early active phase. As such it was approved as an alternative that can be used in the control of labor pains without causing serious side effects. But how efficient is aromatherapy in reducing pain during labor? This paper will analyze and critique the efficiency of aromatherapy as a means to reduce labor pains.

Labor pain is an exceptional one since it is associated with a joyous outcome. As such, proper management of such pain is necessary to allow the mother undergo the process successfully. There are psychological and physiological responses to pain such as increased blood pressure which can affect maternal and fetal wellbeing as well as labor progression (Tanvisut, Traisrisilp, & Tongsong, 2018). Stress and anxiety, in addition to the labor pain are unhealthy to the mother and baby, and this calls for proper pain management. Many methods have been used to manage labor pains, some of which have been found to have adverse neonatal effects. Some of the effects include respiratory suppression, dizziness, nausea, prolonged labor, increased risks for hypotension, and breast-feeding related problems. Aromatherapy is preferred for its capacity to reduce anxiety and fear, its noninvasiveness, and the fact that it can be an adjunctive choice for pain control. According to the results of the study, women who used aromatherapy reported a reduced degree of pain in the latent and early active phase as compared to those women who did not go through aromatherapy. However, the practice does not ease the pain in the late labor phase when the pain is intense.

Aromatherapy has been used over the past centuries for its various therapeutic benefits. Several reasons have been fronted as to why aromatherapy could be preferred over other medicine practices. One reason is that women want to avoid pharmacological or invasive methods of labor pain management which often result in adverse effects for both the mother and the baby. The essential oils used in aromatherapy are natural and have no adverse side effects. The products are readily available and the process of aromatherapy is noninvasive (Tillett & Ames, 2010). The procedure can be done in various ways either through inhaling or application through the skin. There are various flavors from which one can choose from depending on their preferences. The probability of the procedure working is high especially in the latent and early stage of pain. This means that laboring women can trust the procedure to work on them. The research study conducted shows in the above discussion gives the evidence of the workability of aromatherapy in reducing pain for laboring women.

The efficacy of aromatherapy in reducing labor pains is debatable. Some studies have shown no difference in the degree of pain between women who have used aromatherapy and those in the control group. However, there were more cases of babies in the neonatal intensive care in the control group even though the number was not significant statistically (Smith, Collins, & Crowther, 2011). Administration of the oils is either through massage into the skin, bathing, or inhaling using a steam infusion or burner. The review made use of two randomized controlled trials of aromatherapy. The first trial involved 513 women and compared different flavors of the oils which were compared with standard care. The aromatherapy for this group was applied using acupressure points, footbath, birthing pool, taper, or compress. The second trial involved 22 women who were randomized to bathe for at least one hour in water containing either essential oil of ginger or lemongrass. In the end, the study found no difference in pain intensity between the two groups. The study concluded that there is insufficient research on aromatherapy and its relationship with pain management. This is to say that the efficiency of aromatherapy in pain management can be questionable.

There is a wide variety of measures available to relieve labor pain in women. Another study was conducted to examine which nonpharmacologic pain relief technique used by laboring women the most and the effectiveness of the selected technique. Ten techniques were selected and a survey conducted on 46 women on the most preferred method of pain relief. Out of the ten techniques, four were the most preferred with no specific technique being helpful for all the participants. The four preferred techniques were breathing techniques, acupressure, relaxation, and massage (Brown, Douglas & Flood, 2001). Aromatherapy did not make the list of the top of the most preferred methods. This is to mean that even though it is one of the nonpharmacologic techniques used in labor pain management, it is not among the most efficient methods of pain management. Additionally, it could mean that its efficiency level is wanting or there is a deficit in the knowledge of how to make use of aromatherapy as a means to pain management. The information gathered on the review was meant to be used by childbirth educators in the designing and implementation of effective childhood education curriculum that will assist women in choosing the best method of labor pain management to allow them have empowered birth experiences.

Another study was conducted to establish the efficiency level of some techniques used in pain management for labor pain. The techniques were divided into three categories on the basis of a) what works, b) what may work, and c) insufficient evidence to make a judgment. In the first category of "what works," most pharmacological techniques such as epidurals were found there. These were found to effectively reduce labor pains on the one hand, but on the other hand, they caused adverse effects on the women who used them such as dizziness and nausea (Jones, 2012). There was also the risk of low blood pressure and difficulty in passing urine and the hindrance of movement of the legs. On the second category of "what may work," there was some evidence that drug-free techniques could be taken as interventions to labor pains. Some of these interventions included immersion in water, acupuncture, and massage. These were found to have less adverse effects on the pregnant women. Ideally, aromatherapy would fall into this category since it is not categorized as a drug technique. The challenge in this category was that there was little evidence supporting their efficiency since it was based on single trials. For the last category of "insufficient evidence to make a judgment," the pain management options included sterile water injections, hypnosis or opioids. The review found no sufficient evidence of their efficiency in pain management since there were only singular cases. This review portrays the pharmacological techniques to be working in comparison with the other drug-free techniques. These drug-free techniques are inclusive of aromatherapy.

A study conducted on the effectiveness of aromatherapy in reducing pain found that the practice can successfully be used to treat pain but when combined with conventional treatments. The study revealed that most researches on aromatherapy have been on its ability to manage depression, anxiety, nausea, and pain. The study recognizes that the research findings have been controversial but still, aromatherapy has attracted popularity among the nonpharmacologic techniques. The study reveals that although aromatherapy has been in use for centuries, there are only a few high-quality empirical reviews that have been conducted to examine its effectiveness in pain reduction. Most studies that have examined the use of aromatherapy in reducing pain have only focused on therapeutic massage leaving the isolated effect of essential oils without the massage unclear (Lakhan, Sheafer, & Tepper, 2016). This particular study measured the effectiveness of aromatherapy in managing various kinds of pain. The findings indicated a significant positive effect of aromatherapy in pain reduction. As such, the suggestion is to consider aromatherapy as one of the effective methods of pain reduction. The benefits therein are many including the lack of adverse effects on the pregnant women or their babies upon use.

Conclusion

In summary, aromatherapy is one of the alternatives that can be adopted in labor pain management by the health providers. Its popularity lies in its availability since the oils are extracted from plants, its noninvasiveness, and simplicity in use, its low costs, lack of adverse effects and its ability to aid in relaxation. However, aromatherapy has only been said to be effective in the latent and early active phase and does not provide a remedy in the late stage when the labor pains become more intense. Looking from another angle, there have been other studies that have disputed the efficiency and effectiveness of aromatherapy to reduce labor pains. Some claims were that the evidence on the efficiency of aromatherapy is not sufficient to make judgments of the practice being among the popularly used techniques. In one study that placed tests into three categories of what works, what may work and insufficient evidence to make a judgment; aromatherapy was placed on the second category which lacked enough statistical evidence to pass judgment. The contrasting reports on the efficacy of aromatherapy in labor pain management lead to a conclusion that more research studies should be conducted to gather as much information on the efficiency level of aromatherapy as a technique in labor pain management. However, in the meantime and with most of the reports in support of the practice, aromatherapy should be considered as one way of reducing pain, and especially on laboring mothers alongside other medical benefits.

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