Objective: The objective of this “work in progress” research study is to compare effectiveness of intradermal sterile water injections (SWI) for lower back pain in latent and active stage of labor.

Design: The study is a Randomized Clinical Trial approved by the Investigational Review Board (IRB).

Setting: The study is being performed in a 10 bed Labor and Delivery unit in a rural Idaho hospital.

Patients/Participants: The population of interest is adult laboring patients at or greater than 37 weeks with a low risk pregnancy admitted to the labor and delivery unit at 3 centimeters dilation or less. 

Methods: Participants were assigned to one of two intervention groups: Group A (one set of SWI in latent labor) or Group B (one set of SWI in latent labor and one set of SWI in active labor).  The pain relief is evaluated using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) before the intervention then at set intervals after the intervention. 

Results: To date there are  12 patients enrolled in the study. Of the 12,  six  complained of back pain and received the injections (Group A: n=3 and Group B: n=3).  All six patients received the first set of injections at 3 centimeters dilation or less.  None of the patients received the second set of injections at 4 centimeters or greater because of delivery or receiving an epidural.  Thus, there have been no injections administered at 4 centimeters or greater to evaluate  the intervention in  active stage labor.  While the preliminary data suggest that the intervention is effective in latent stage labor (three centimeters or less), the research team continues to collect data in order to complete the study objective.   

Conclusion/Implications for nursing practice: The outcome of this study will help determine if this is an effective means of lower back pain relief that can be administered during latent and active phase labor. The results will help clinicians with the challenge of decreasing or relieving the back pain a laboring woman may experience.

Keywords: intradermal sterile water injections, lower back pain, active labor