Perineal massage reduces likelihood of episiotomy.(Obstetrics)

Prenatal perineal massage started after 34 weeks of pregnancy was associated with a 15% reduction in episiotomies and a reduction in reported pain after childbirth, compared with women who did not do the massage, in an Australian review of 2,434 women's vaginal births.

Women who practiced perineal massage also had a 9% reduction in the incidence of trauma severe enough to require stitches during vaginal delivery, Dr. Michael Beckmann of the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospital in Coopers Plains, Queensland, reported in a Cochrane review of three studies.

However, the risk reduction was statistically significant only among the 1,925 women who had not had previous vaginal births.

In one study, women who had practiced perineal massage generally reported less perineal pain at 3 months post partum, but these differences were statistically significant only among women who had undergone previous vaginal births.

The women in the studies practiced digital perineal massage for as little as 4 minutes three to four times per week to as much as 10 minutes daily.

Surprisingly, the women who averaged more than 3.5 massages per week had a significantly longer second stage of labor, compared with those who averaged fewer than 3.5 massages per week, but there was no significant difference in the length of second-stage labor when the women who had episiotomies were excluded. Women with a strong desire for an intact perineum may have been the more frequent massagers, and may have wanted to push longer and avoid episiotomies unless they were truly ...