Background: Early puerperal rehabilitation can interfere with a woman’s
ability to care for herself and her infant. Acupoint hot compress, with a
combination of acupoints and natural physical agent heat, has significant
potential to alleviate symptoms experienced during early puerperium. Current
evidence regarding the effects of acupoint hot compress therapy on early
puerperal rehabilitation is insufficient. The aim of this study is to address
this with a multi-center design and large sample size. Methods: This is
a prospective, multi-center, and randomized controlled clinical trial. A total of
1400 nulliparous women with a singleton pregnancy experiencing natural childbirth
from 14 hospitals will be enrolled and randomly allocated to either an
intervention group or a control group in a 1:1 ratio. Subjects in the control
group will only receive routine postpartum care. In addition to routine
postpartum care, the subjects in the intervention group will be administered a
4-hour acupoint hot compress with a constant temperature of 45


