Comparison of the Effect of Lidocaine Spray and Acupressure on the Severity of Intramuscular Injection Pain

Patients experience pain after intramuscular (IM) injection. Lidocaine and acupressure are two methods that can be used for the reduction of pain in patients.

The present study aimed to compare the effect of lidocaine spray and acupressure on the severity of pain induced by IM injection.

This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 254 participants who received IM injections in the Emergency Department of 22 Bahman Hospital in Neyshabur, Iran, in 2019. They were selected via convenience sampling and randomly assigned to three groups of lidocaine spray, acupressure, and control by permuted block randomization method. Data were collected using demographic characteristics form and visual analog scale (VAS). Data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 25).

The mean scores of pain intensity in the lidocaine spray (1.78) and acupressure (1.83) groups were lower, as compared to that in the control group (2.83). Nonetheless, the results of this study revealed that there was no significant difference between acupressure and lidocaine spray in the reduction of pain intensity (P=0.400). Moreover, demographic variables had no effect on the severity of pain induced by IM injection.
Implications for Practice: As evidenced by the obtained results, acupressure and lidocaine spray were not statistically effective in reducing the severity of pain induced by IM injection. The reduction in mean pain intensity in these methods was clinically significant, compared to that in the control group.