“Massage and Inhalation Aromatherapy as Alternative Medicine in Pain Management of Primary Dysmenorrhea”

Abstract

Many women suffering from dysmenorrhea would like to avoid pharmacological or invasive methods of pain management of their condition and this may contribute towards popular use of alternative methods such as aromatherapy. This review examined currently available evidence supporting the use of aromatherapy for pain management in dysmenorrhea. This paper aims to systematically review the existing knowledge on aromatherapy and its underlying philosophy and principles, pain-relief mechanisms as well as evidence supporting efficacy of aromatherapy for pain management in primary dysmenorrhea. Searches were performed using the Cochrane Database, CINAHL, ScienceDirect, PubMed and Google Scholars. Keywords were primary dysmenorrhea, aromatherapy, inhalation aromatherapy, massage aromatherapy, aromatherapy and nursing. There are 12 papers met the inclusion criteria. Some were excluded due to language of the publication used are non-English. It is concluded that massage and inhalation aromatherapy can be used in managing pain in dysmenorrhea and thus can be promoted as a self-care initiatives in alleviating the menstrual pain.