RESUMO
Primary dysmenorrhea is a common gynecological complaint especially for a adolescent girls. It may be sever enough to interfere with normal activities causing missed school days and affecting the academic performance. Treatment of dysmenorrhe includes pharmacological as well as non pharmacological approaches. One of the non pharmacological approaches is acupressure. Acupressure is an ancient Chinese healing practice that applies finger pressure to certain meridian points on the body to relieve pain. These meridians start at finger tips, connect to the brain, and then connect to the specific organ. Acupressure may reduce muscle pain and tension, improve blood circulation and enable muscle fibers to relax. So this study aimed to identify the effect of acupressure on primary dysmenorrhea. The study was implemented at King Abd EL- Aziz university [Faculty of Nursing] in Jeddah. From the above mentioned setting 50 student having a primary dysmenorrhea were selected. Three tools were used. Tool [I]was a specific instructional questionnaire sheet to assess the students' knowledge and practices regarding their menstrual pain. Tool [II]was a Visual Analogue pain intensity scale to assess menstrual pain intensity Tool[Ill]was instructional guideline about acupressure which was developed and given to the selected students, the students were followed for two periods. Evaluation of the effectiveness of acupressure was measured for each student by re-assessing their pain intensity one day before menstruation and 3 consecutive days after. The result of the present study revealed that acupressure was one of the effective non pharmacological methods to relive menstrual pain, use of pain killer as well as the symptoms associated with dysmenorrhea