Acupuncture during pregnancy is safe, and is often used to promote a healthy pregnancy. It is a time of a major physiological and hormonal changes, and pregnant patients often find acupuncture very beneficial for ailments that they might come across during their pregnancy, both for the first time mother-to-be or for more experienced mothers.
Commonly treated conditions during pregnancy:
- Prevention of miscarriage, especially during the first trimester
- Musculo-skeletal conditions: symphysis pubis pain, lower back pain, sciatica, carpal turner syndrome, leg cramps, rib pain
- Morning sickness, nausea and heartburn
- Fatigue, exhaustion and insomnia
- Anxiety
- Vaginal discharge and itching
- Pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH)
- Oedema
- Small-for-dates babies
- Breech and posterior positions
- Induction
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Pre-birth treatment
Acupuncture treatment is given once a week, from 37 or 38 weeks until delivery. Acupuncture can be used in two main ways in the later stages of pregnancy. Firstly, it can help prepare a woman’s body for birth, with an emphasis on preparing the cervix and pelvis for labour. Secondly, treatments can be given to deal with discomforts that women may experience around this time, which are often considered to be normal, including heartburn, constipation, varicose veins, backache, swelling of hands & feet, difficulty in sleeping and increased anxiety and tiredness.
Midwives, who regularly use pre-birth acupuncture for their patients, have observed a trend in women who have received pre-birth acupuncture, to either go into spontaneous labour around their due dates, or, if an induction is required, to respond well to induction and to progress efficiently to a natural birth. |
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