The effect of Rebozo technique on perceived labour pain and childbirth experience: A randomized controlled trial.

The short version

This randomized controlled trial with 113 first-time mothers explored whether the rebozo technique — a traditional Mexican bodywork practice using a long woven shawl to rock, sway, and reposition a laboring woman's body — could ease labor pain and improve the overall birth experience. The technique comes from Mexican folk obstetric care, where practitioners use rhythmic shawl movements to help relax the body and support positional changes, working on the idea that gentle external movement and steady physical support help labor progress more comfortably. Researchers compared it directly against a relaxing massage, a widely used comfort measure, to see whether rebozo offered any added benefit. The trial ran at a hospital in Istanbul, Turkey, from January to May 2021, enrolling 113 healthy, first-time mothers between 37 and 41 weeks pregnant who arrived in labor with at least 4 cm of cervical dilation. Fifty-eight women received the standardized rebozo technique from trained personnel; 55 received a relaxing massage instead. Labor pain was tracked at three labor stages using the 0-10 Visual Analog Scale (VAS, a simple self-rated pain-intensity score), and after birth, women rated their experience on a four-part scale covering decision-making involvement, the labor process itself, professional support received, and feelings of safety. Women in the rebozo group reported consistently lower pain throughout labor: VAS scores were 3.2 versus 5.0 in the early (latent) phase, 4.5 versus 6.5 in the active phase, and 5.8 versus 7.9 in the transition phase (rebozo versus control). Their overall childbirth experience score was also markedly higher — 68.5 versus 51.6 (P < .001, meaning this gap is very unlikely to be due to chance) — with gains across all four subdimensions, including feeling more involved in decisions and safer during labor. Labor also moved differently: the second stage of labor was roughly half as long for the rebozo group (about 16 minutes versus 32 minutes, P < .001), and active-phase cervical dilation progressed at a different pace (6.03 cm versus 6.68 cm, P < .001). Not every measure differed — fetal heart rate and head station were similar between groups throughout, suggesting the technique did not affect fetal well-being indicators. For expectant mothers and birth attendants, these results suggest the rebozo technique is a low-cost, equipment-light way to potentially ease pain and improve satisfaction during labor, alongside or instead of standard massage. Because participants and staff could not be blinded to which technique was used, and the study was conducted at a single center with practitioners of varying rebozo experience, the results should be confirmed in larger, multicenter trials with blinded assessors before the technique is recommended as routine intrapartum care.

Key findings

• In this randomized trial of 113 first-time mothers, those who received the rebozo technique (a traditional Mexican method using a long shawl to rock and support a laboring woman's body) reported less pain at every stage of labor than those who received a standard relaxing massage.
• Women in the rebozo group also rated their overall childbirth experience significantly higher (68.5 versus 51.6 out of a possible total, P < .001, meaning the difference is very unlikely to have occurred by chance), including feeling more involved in decisions and safer during birth.
• The second stage of labor (the pushing stage, from full cervical dilation to birth) was roughly half as long in the rebozo group, about 16 minutes compared with about 32 minutes for the control group.
• The study did not use blinding, meaning participants and staff knew which technique was being used, and it was conducted at a single hospital in Turkey, so the findings need confirmation in larger, multicenter trials before rebozo is recommended as standard practice.
• No adverse events were reported for either the rebozo technique or the relaxing massage control group.

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