IntrOductIOnThe childbirth experience is a process during women's life and the most important consequence of labour [1]. The separation of woman from the family is a factor to increase the feelings of isolation and stress in the mother. During labour the increased anxiety level in mother enhances the pain perception, increases the labour duration and secretion of catecholamine which reduces the blood flow in the uterus. This decreases the effectiveness of uterine contractions and increases the labour duration [2,3]. Labour duration is one of the effective factors on the pregnancy consequences and maternal and neonatal complications. Due to prolongation of the labour there is risk of fetal or neonatal death, choking, infection and neural and physical damages in the infant. In addition, the mother is at risk of postpartum haemorrhage and infection and psychological distress due to the anxiety, lack of sleep and fatigue [4][5][6].Massage is an ancient method that women had received relaxation through it for thousands of years but in modern labour rooms no accurate evaluation has been conducted [7]. Massage is an old technique that is widely used in childbirth [8] and can decrease the childbirth pain by reducing the adrenaline and noradrenaline secretion and increasing the endorphins and oxytocin release thus reducing the childbirth duration by increasing the uterine contractions [9][10][11][12]. In earlier studies on the effect of massage on labour duration, inconsistent results have been reported [13][14][15]. The complications caused by prolonged labour in mother and fetus are enormous and the massage for shortening of duration of labour is simple, affordable, safe and more acceptable for pregnant women. AImThere are inconsistent results about the effectiveness of massage therapy to decrease labour duration. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of massage therapy provided by the trained midwifery students on labour duration. mAterIAls And methOdsThis randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted from October 2013 to June 2015 in Fatemieh Hospital, Shahroud. Sample size was calculated based on criteria for a medium effect size that was employed in a previous similar study [16]. The primary outcome was the length of labour, and the study was powered so that a meaningful difference in length of labour (at least 30 minutes) could be observed if such a difference actually existed. To achieve power = 80 and level of significance = 0.05, 50 women were needed for each group. First adequate explanations about study were given to the pregnant women and written introduction letter was received from them. The number of 100 pregnant women (50 per group) aged 18-45 years with the singleton live fetus and reactive NST were selected at the time of admission. The exclusion criteria were development of any adverse medical disease, psychological depression, pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia, placental abruption and placenta previa, any possibility of fetal anomaly and the record of previous sur...

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