Using pressure to decrease the pain of intramuscular injections

The purpose of this study was to determine if applying pressure to the site for 10 sec prior to an intramuscular injection would reduce injection pain, an approach suggested by anecdotal observation and the gate control theory. The subject were 93 patients who had dorsogluteal intramuscular injectio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of pain and symptom management 1996-07, Vol.12 (1), p.52-58
Main Authors: Barnhill, Barbara J., Holbert, Melinda D., Jackson, Nisha M., Erickson, Roberta S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Female
gamma-Globulins - administration & dosage
Humans
Injections
Injections, Intramuscular - adverse effects
intramuscular
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
pain
Pain - prevention & control
Pain Measurement
Pressure
Radiotherapy. Instrumental treatment. Physiotherapy. Reeducation. Rehabilitation, orthophony, crenotherapy. Diet therapy and various other treatments (general aspects)
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Summary:The purpose of this study was to determine if applying pressure to the site for 10 sec prior to an intramuscular injection would reduce injection pain, an approach suggested by anecdotal observation and the gate control theory. The subject were 93 patients who had dorsogluteal intramuscular injections of immune globulin at a county health department. Forty-eight received the pressure treatment and 45 received a standard injection in which no pressure was applied. Mean pain intensity on a 100-mm visual analogue scale, adjusted for differences in injection volume, was 13.6 mm for the experimental group and 21.5 mm for the control group (P = 0.03). The findings suggest that simple manual pressure applied to the site is a useful technique to decrease injection pain.
ISSN:0885-3924
1873-6513
DOI:10.1016/0885-3924(96)00049-8