Acupuncture in Pregnancy

I have recently attended advanced training with Debra Betts, a world renowned Acupuncturist and author specialising in acupuncture in pregnancy.

Acupuncture can be used to help a wide spectrum of symptoms suffered through pregnancy:

• Nausea

• Heartburn

• Constipation

• Migraine

• Headache

• Insomnia

• Anxiety

• Back pain

• Symphysis pubis pain

• Varicose, vulval veins

• Haemorrhoids

• Oedema

• Carpal tunnel syndrome

• Induction - only offered after date for hospital induction has been given to the patient.

• Moxabustion for breech presentation

• Prenatal acupuncture to help ensure a healthy pregnancy and labour.

Acupuncture Facilitates Natural Birth

Acupuncture significantly reduces duration of labour and reduces the need for augmentation of labour with contraction-stimulating drugs. A study randomised 100 women with spontaneous rupture of membranes at term to either acupuncture or no acupuncture. Treatment was individualised on the basis of traditional Chinese medical diagnosis and used three points per patient from a pool of nine possible choices. Treatment principles applied were to increase energy, soften the cervix and open the Conception vessel. Although time from membrane rupture to delivery did not differ significantly between the groups, length of active labour was significantly reduced in the acupuncture group by a mean difference of 1.7 hours.

In addition, significantly fewer patients in the acupuncture group required oxytocin (used to stimulate contractions) for longer than two hours. Medical induction of labour was eventually necessary in 15 acupuncture patients and 20 controls. When induction was carried out, women assigned to acupuncture completed the active phase of labour in half the time compared to controls, a statistically significant difference. (Acupuncture administered after spontaneous rupture of membranes at term significantly reduces the length of birth and use of oxytocin. A randomized controlled trial. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2006;85(11):1348-53).

Benefits Of Acupuncture 

Among the many benefits of acupuncture during pregnancy, a recent study has shown its particular effectiveness in relieving morning sickness . The Australian study published in the journal Birth reports 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 and migraines .

Acupuncture can alleviate heartburn, hemorrhoids and stress. While acupuncture can also be used to treat oedema, elevated blood pressure or excessive weight gain, the root cause of these may be deeper complications. “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, . This is also the time when special attention is given to proper positioning of the baby. “By 32 to 34 weeks, the acupuncturist should begin to encourage a head-down position,” she says. “In the last four to six weeks, the mother will receive treatments to normalize and optimize labour.”

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.

In Vancouver on May 18, 2007, Dr. Paul Magarelli, an infertility physician at the Reproductive Medicine & Fertility Center, and Diane Cridennda, an acupuncturist at East Winds, both centers in Colorado Springs, Colorado, presented their research results which were published in Infertility and Sterility in April, 2007. This is one of several studies the two have completed. In the protocol, they used a minimum of 9 acupuncture treatments within 2 months before the embryo transfer. Since this was a research study, each patient received the same treatment. No modification in points was allowed. From a clinical TCM/acupuncture perspective, the treatment protocols were very limited compared to individulized treatment of each patient.

What were their results?

• Lorne Brown, Doctor of TCM, founder and clinical director of Acubalance Wellness Centre, the first TCM clinic in British Columbia dedicated to reproductive wellness, analyzed the data Dr. Magarelli presented and has posted the following conclusions on his website:
• Acupuncture does not cause harm to fertility or negatively interfere with an IVF outcome.
• Acupuncture can statistically improve the live birth rate from IVF to between 10-15%.
• Acupuncture reduces the number of ectopic pregnancies in an IVF setting.
• The acupuncture protocol (minimum of 9 treatments using set points) did not affect egg quality BUT it did improve the host. Therefore, it seemed to improve factors affecting implanation ratherthe egg quality itself.
• The mechanism by which acupuncture improves implantation and live birth rates results from acupuncture’s ability to regulate the body’s hormone levels (particularly prolactin and cortisol) to mimic these hormone levels in a natural cycle.