Birthing ball for reducing labor pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Publication/Presentation Date
12-1-2022
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Multiple factors are thought to affect a woman's sensation of pain during the process of labor. Birthing balls are round exercise balls upon which a woman sits during labor and performs different movements such as rocking back and forth and pelvic rotation. Midwives and nurses have been using birthing balls (also known as Swiss balls) to increase maternal comfort, widen the pelvic outlet, and facilitate progression of labor for women laboring without an epidural. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials is to assess whether the use of the birthing ball in labor decreases maternal pain during labor.
DATA SOURCES: Research was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, ClinicalTrial.gov, OVID and Cochrane Library as electronic databases. Randomized controlled trials were identified using the following search strategy: "birthing ball" OR "birth ball" OR "swiss ball" OR "exercise ball" AND labor from the inception of each database to June 2019. No restrictions for language or geographic location were applied.
STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Selection criteria included randomized trials of pregnant women with a singleton, cephalic fetus who were randomized to either birthing ball or control group (i.e. no birthing ball) for use in labor.
STUDY APPRAISAL AND SYNTHESIS METHODS: Seven trials with 533 pregnant women were included. 287 (53.8%) were randomized to the intervention group (birthing ball) and 246 (46.2%) were randomized to the control group (no birthing ball). All analyses were done using an intention-to-treat approach, evaluating women according to the treatment group to which they were randomly allocated in the original trials. The primary outcome was labor pain in the first stage of labor. The summary measures were reported as summary relative risk (RR) or as summary mean difference (MD) with 95% of confidence interval (CI) using the random-effects model of DerSimonian and Laird.
RESULTS: Labor pain significantly decreased by 1.70 points in the birthing ball group compared to the control group (MD -1.70 points; 95% CI -2.20 to -1.20). Use of the birthing ball versus no birthing ball did not result in a significant difference in incidence of spontaneous vaginal delivery, operative vaginal delivery, cesarean delivery, or perineal lacerations.
CONCLUSION: The birthing ball is an effective method of pain reduction during labor for women laboring without an epidural.
Volume
35
Issue
25
First Page
5184
Last Page
5193
ISSN
1476-4954
Published In/Presented At
Grenvik, J. M., Rosenthal, E., Wey, S., Saccone, G., De Vivo, V., De Prisco Lcp, A., Delgado García, B. E., & Berghella, V. (2022). Birthing ball for reducing labor pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. The journal of maternal-fetal & neonatal medicine : the official journal of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine, the Federation of Asia and Oceania Perinatal Societies, the International Society of Perinatal Obstetricians, 35(25), 5184–5193. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767058.2021.1875439
Disciplines
Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Health and Medical Administration | Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods
PubMedID
33478303
Department(s)
Administration and Leadership
Document Type
Article