Our goal is to ensure you have a viable, healthy and comfortable pregnancy.
Pre-Natal Acupuncture
After conception, acupuncture and herbs can prevent miscarriage by promoting overall health and proper circulation throughout the body, ensuring that essential nutrients are passed to the baby for growth and development.
Acupuncture is also effective at easing pregnancy discomforts such as:
- Nausea/vomiting
- Heartburn
- Fatigue
- Insomnia
- Constipation
- Anxiety & depression in pregnancy
- Itching
- Breech & posterior presentations
- Edema
- Pregnancy sinusitis
- Lower back and hip pain
- Varicose veins, hemorrhoids and vulval varicosities
Pre-Birth Acupuncture
Acupuncture at the end of the third trimester can help prepare the cervix and pelvis for labor. A series of 3 weekly acupuncture treatments using a specific point protocol has been shown to reduce mean labor time from 8 hours and two minutes in the control group to six hours and 36 minutes in the group who received pre-birth acupuncture. Midwives have also report a lower rate of medical intervention when pre-birth acupuncture is administered starting at 36-37 weeks gestation.
Acupuncture for Labor Induction
From a Traditional Chinese Medical view point, labor is expected when three factors occur simultaneously. Yang activity becomes predominant over Yin growth, qi and blood begin to move freely, and the uterus dilates. When these events sync up, an easy harmonious labor ensues. Our acupuncturists have had the honor of inducing a number of births naturally. Many pregnant people report increased fetal movement during acupuncture, with labor following 2-4 days later. We recommend treatments are continued every 3 days.
The Journal of Maternity Fetal and Neonatal Medicine, published a study in Aug 2006 conducted by Harper TC and others. The study was conducted to evaluate the utility of outpatient acupuncture for pregnancy and labor induction treatments. The results were very encouraging. Compared to controls, pregnant people in the acupuncture group tended to be more 70% more likely to labor spontaneously and 39% less likely to deliver by cesarean section.
But this is not surprising; such evidence was available decades ago. One study conducted in 1977 and published in the Journal of Obstet Gynecol. Under the care of Tsuei JJ, Lai Y, Sharma SD, et all showed that Acupuncture for Pregnancy and Labour induction resulted in a success rate of 91.6%.
If you are pregnant and are concerned with labor pain, or the delivery, we encourage you to consider Acupuncture to encourage labor, shorten the duration of labor, relieve pain and avoid a medical induction.
