Hamidzadeh 2012.

Methods	Single‐blind placebo‐controlled trial of 120 women.
Participants	Women have their 1st to 3rd pregnancy, no addiction to drugs, reading and writing literacy, > 37 weeks’ gestation, natural pregnancy, singleton, cephalic presentation, anterior position, spontaneous onset of labour, cervical dilation between 3 cm to 5 cm, 20‐40 years of age, no experience of acupressure, not damage, bruises, sensitivity or irritation at LI4 acupoint, no prior caesarean birth.
Interventions	1. At the beginning of the active phase of labour (3 cm to 4 cm dilatation of cervix with regular uterine contractions), women in the acupressure group (n = 50) received LI4 acupressure at the onset of the active phase for the duration of each uterine contraction over a period of 20 minutes. At onset of active phase of labour, women in acupressure group received simultaneous acupressure on both hands. 5 pressures on LI4 were applied per minute. Each period included 10 seconds of pressure and 2 seconds of rest. Done during each uterine contraction over a 20‐minute period. The ‘effect’ was confirmed by a feeling by the woman of warmth, weight, swelling and numbness. 2. Women in the control group received a touch on LI4 acupressure point without massage.
Outcomes	Labour pain was measured using the VAS before the intervention, immediately after the intervention, 20 and 60 minutes after, and then every subsequent hour until birth. Satisfaction with labour. Mode of birth.
Notes	Study duration: September 2006 to December 2006. Funding: not stated. Conflict of interest: authors state there are no conflicts of interests. Setting: maternity hospital. Country: Iran.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Stratified randomisation with a block size of 2. Stratified for nulliparous and multiparous women to select 50% each.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not described.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Participants and clinician not blinded. Interventions were substantially different and obvious to an observer.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Outcome assessor was blinded.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Imcomplete data addressed.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	No trial protocol available. Limited study outcomes were reported.
Other bias	Unclear risk	Trial seems free of other biases.