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Thankyou for your
interest in how Acupuncture can help this condition.
For specific
information detailing some
research articles
on this condition and Acupuncture, please read below.
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information on Acupuncture, how it works and what it can do for
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ACUPUNCTURE DURING PREGNANCY AND FOR CHILDBIRTH.
Among the many
benefits of acupuncture during pregnancy, a recent study has shown
its particular effectiveness in relieving
morning sickness or the potentially more dangerous
hyperemesis gravidarum (severe vomiting during pregnancy). The
Australian study published in the journal Birth reportes that
of 593 women less than 14 weeks pregnant who participated, those who
received traditional acupuncture reported having less frequent and
shorter periods of nausea than the women who received no
acupuncture. These improvements were felt immediately and lasted
throughout the study’s four-week duration.
In the first trimester, acupuncture can also
relieve fatigue, migraines and bleeding.
As it
helps maintain balance during the second trimester, acupuncture can
alleviate heartburn, hemorrhoids and stress.
While acupuncture can also be used to
treat edema, elevated blood pressure or excessive weight
gain, the root cause of these may be deeper complications, says
Hobbs. “Acupuncturists with adequate training in the care of
pregnant women would recognize the potentially serious nature of
these symptoms and only offer care concurrent with adequate Western
medical care.”
Third-trimester treatment can bring much-needed relief from
sciatica, backache, pubic and joint pain and even carpal tunnel
syndrome, and benefits are sometimes immediate.
Birth and Beyond
Research reported in a November 1998 issue of the Journal of the
American Medical Association finds that an aspect of acupuncture
called moxabustion, when applied to 130 pregnant women with
breech presentations,
significantly increased the number of
head-first births. Used for centuries in China to turn
breech babies, moxabustion employs long sticks of the herb moxa to
produce a gentle, smoldering heat and a smoke that are held close to
an acupuncture point in the little toe. The treatment, most
effective at 32 to 36 weeks, should only be used in healthy
pregnancies.
Acupuncture is used
during labor itself mainly to facilitate pain relief and boost
energy. But if needed, it can also help stimulate contractions
without the use of drugs, says Hobbs. “This is best accomplished
over two to three successive days of one-hour treatments, so early
referral is essential.”
___________
An
interesting Swedish
study
was conducted on late term
pregnancy and
acupuncture and found that it
“offers clear clinical
advantages over standard
treatment
alone for the reduction of pain.”
The
study details can be
found on the
online British
Medical Journal. Four hundred
women were studied
over a six-week period. The
women were placed
into three groups. One third of participants received a pelvic belt
and at
home exercises for
treatment. Another third received this standard
treatment along with
acupuncture. And the final third learned stabilizing exercises to
increase mobility.
The
study
concluded that the
women who
received acupuncture reported less
pain in
the morning and evening compared to those expectant mothers who
received only standard treatment. The
article that discussed this
study included a
comment by Dr. Kenneth A. Levey who is the director of the Center
For Pelvic Pain and
Gynecology at
New York University
School of Medicine. It is important to hear a medical
professional’s remarks on this topic because
pregnancy is a
complex process and proper caution should always be heeded. Levey
states, “This is a well-written, well-designed
study that meets all
the requirements of medical practice.” In considering any
treatment plan during
pregnancy, it is best to consult a doctor.
Acupuncture
can have great benefits for some women; they can find relief from
pregnancy-related heartburn, hemorrhoids, edema and fatigue.
_________________
July 2nd, 2008
Acupuncture, combined with stretching exercises, helps relieve back and
pelvic pain that occurs during pregnancy. Acupuncture alone helps
the majority of pregnant women, with even better results than
physiotherapy.
A
study of women with both back and pelvic pain showed that 60 percent
who received Acupuncture treatment reported less intense pain. The
study found no complications associated with the use of Acupuncture
in pregnant women.
Back and pelvic pain can interfere with everything - work,
recreation and even sleep. According to an updated review of eight
studies involving 1,305 pregnant women from Sweden, Iran, Brazil,
Thailand and Australia, more than two-thirds of pregnant women
experience back pain and almost one-fifth report pelvic pain.
“When you’re pregnant, your center of gravity is off. You have to
arch your back to balance this huge tummy, so you end up with extra
strain on your back and pelvic muscles,” said Victoria Pennick,
M.H.Sc., a senior clinical research project manager at the Institute
for Work & Health in Toronto, Canada.
“We were able to group trials about women who had back pain alone,
women who had pelvic pain alone and both,” Pennick said.
The review authors also found that women who participated in
prenatal exercise programs to stretch the pelvic muscles, strengthen
the abdominal and hamstring muscles and increase spinal flexibility
reported significant decreases in back pain compared to women who
received the usual prenatal care.
On
average, women who followed through with pelvic or back pain
interventions experienced some pain relief and reported less need
for pain medication, physical therapy and posture-support belts.
Lutheran Medical Center (Brooklyn USA) - 2005 Study
In
addition to traditional Western medicine labor and delivery
services, Lutheran Medical Center offers childbirth acupuncture.
Nurses say the complementary medicine approach has been a hit with
patients and colleagues at the community hospital in Brooklyn.
The option of acupuncture became a mainstay at Lutheran after
hospital staff and patients participated in research in 2005 to look
at not only clinical outcomes but also nurses' attitudes toward
acupuncture.
The study of patients at Lutheran showed positive clinical results,
including a decrease in the cesarian section rate, on women
volunteers who received acupuncture during childbirth from February
to September 2005. Here are some of those results –
• 87% of patients surveyed indicated they found the acupuncture
helpful;
• 75% indicated minor to significant pain relief;
• 80% indicated improvement in patient well-being and comfort, and
several wrote comments observing positive effects on contractions
and dilatation; and
• 7% of the women receiving acupuncture had cesarean sections,
compared with 20% among the non-acupuncture controls.
Turning Breech and Posterior Babies with Acupuncture
and Moxabustion
Babies
need to be in the right position for an uncomplicated natural labour.
We hope that they turn head down and anterior between 34 and 36
weeks of pregnancy. In a small percentage of pregnancies this is not
the case and the baby stays in an upright or ‘breech’ position.
Other babies turn head down but remain in a posterior position.
A
posterior presentation often results in a long and inefficient
labour with prolonged dilation. Posterior presentation is also
likely to increase back pain for the woman as the spine of the baby
puts pressure on her own spine.
A
woman with a breech presentation will usually be advised that a
caesarean is the best option.
Research into Acupuncture and Moxibustion in breech and posterior
presentation
Several studies have been conducted into breech presentation. An
Italian study of 260 women (Cardini et al 1998) presenting breech in
their first pregnancy (in 33rd week) were given treatment.
75.4% of
the babies in the treatment group turned
(compared to 47.7%) in the control. A Chinese study consisting of
505 women (Co operative research group on moxabustion version 1984)
had similar results with
81% of the
treatment group turning
(compared to 49%) in the control group.
Other
advantages to having Acupuncture prior to birth
Acupuncture in the third trimester of pregnancy is an optimum time
to address and discomforts or problems a women may be experiencing,
treat to prepare the body for birth, learn acupressure pain relief
techniques as well as discussing and planning post natal treatment
that can be of great benefit after childbirth.
Acupuncture is an effective, non invasive, safe treatment that is
suitable to use for breech and posterior presentation and throughout
pregnancy.
__________________________
Increasing your chances for a natural birth
September 27, 2008
If a
natural birth is important to you, consider Pre-birth acupuncture to
increase your chances of having the birthing experience that you
want.
Initially midwives were interested in using acupuncture during labor
to help with pain relief. What they found is that women receiving
acupuncture in the last few weeks leading up to delivery had better
outcomes during childbirth. As Debra Betts writes in her research
study on Pre-birth Acupuncture,
Feedback from midwives using acupuncture has consistently been that
within their practices,
it
reduces the length of time women spend in labor,
especially women having their 1st birth, and there is a noticeable
reduction in medical intervention, including induction of labor, use
of epidural anesthesia, and cesarean delivery (Betts 2006).
Research on Pre-birth Acupuncture
In
2004 Betts completed an observational study involved 169 women
receiving pre-birth acupuncture. The acupuncture was performed by 14
midwives in the Wellington region of New Zealand. The midwives
found that mean labor time was reduced. For women having their
first labor, mean labor time was 9 hours with 59% of women
delivering within 10 hours. Mean labor time was 4.7 hours for women
having their second birth or more, with 60.5% delivering within 5
hours. Just as important, the study authors compared labor results
of women receiving acupuncture to an audit group from the same
region of New Zealand and observed the following results:
§
35% reduction in inductions (43% for women having their first birth)
§
31% reduction in epidural anesthesia
§
32% reduction in caesarean deliveries
§
9% increase in normal vaginal birth
More
data to be posted here soon.
Thankyou for your interest in how Acupuncture can help this
condition.
For
general information on Acupuncture please click on the
Acupuncture
Tab.
For
information on
Acupuncture Brisbane
and how we can help, please click on the
Home
tab.
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