Hip and Back Pain during Pregnancy
Hip and back pain during pregnancy can be caused by various factors: the weight of the pregnant belly, a previous back injury that is resurfacing, altered or poor posture, instability of the joints caused by ligaments that are relaxing, or an increased lumbar curve. Most of the time women are sent to the physical therapist to learn strengthening exercises or given a back brace and left to their misery. Back pain cannot be ignored however, because it is important for the mom-to-be to keep her mobility as far into the pregnancy as possible. Staying active not only keeps the mom and baby healthy but it helps the mom maintain the stamina she will need for labor.
How Does Acupuncture Treat Back Pain in Pregnancy?
Once the acupuncturist has ascertained the cause of the back pain, the acupuncture treatment can begin. It is important to note here that the exact cause of the pain does not dictate how successful the treatment will be. Pain that is caused by herniated discs responds just as well to acupuncture as back pain caused by muscle spasms. This is because the acupuncture works by bringing more circulation to the area and helping to reduce inflammation, reducing swelling and relaxing the muscles so that spasms cease. Acupuncture also affects the nervous system and helps to reduce the pain response being elicited from the troubled area on the hip or back.
What is Getting Acupuncture Like When You’re Pregnant?
When treating pregnant women, they are asked to lie down on their side and their body is well-supported with pillows to ensure maximum comfort during the treatment. The area of pain will be palpated and then the needles will be placed locally near the pain and also distally along the acupuncture meridian. It is common to use only a few needles, usually 6 or less. The woman is then left to take a deeply relaxing nap for 20-30 minutes while the acupuncture needles are retained.
How Many Treatments Will I Need?
In pregnancy, the hip or back pain is usually at the acute phase which means that the pain responds more quickly to treatments that are given closer together. The most benefit will result from treatments two or three times during the first week. By this time, if the woman is careful not to overdo her activity level, her pain should be greatly diminished. The next week treatments should be given one or two times. She can then return for maintenance treatments every other week or so in order to stay pain-free as the weight increases.
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Acupuncture for Labor Promotion
What happens when your due date comes and goes without the onset of labor? If you are lucky your caregiver allows you to go two weeks past your due date, but most hospital’s policy is to induce at 41 weeks. This means that the anxious couple now is given a deadline within which to produce measurable contractions or they face induction with pitocin or a caesarean section. The uterus rarely responds favourably to this extra tension and stress and many times the couple is a victim of circumstance when trying to avoid medical induction. Pitocin will begin labor no matter if the mother’s body is ready or not. While the side effects of this drug on children are not fully known, in the mother some observable side effects include intense contraction pain, nausea, vomiting, cardiac arrhythmia, pelvic hematoma, etc. This explains why most women are eager to find a different solution to the induction dilemma.
Recently the scientific research community has been paying particular attention to the beneficial effects of acupuncture on labor induction. There are numerous studies being conducting to assess the outcomes of women who use acupuncture to induce labor. It is thought that the acupuncture may stimulate the release of prostaglandins and oxytocin, the natural hormone that pitocin mimics. The outcomes of further studies are anxiously awaited as it may help a large percentage of birthing mothers avoid the negative effects of medical induction.
What is it like and how many treatments will I need?
Generally a woman can begin treatments to stimulate labor the week of her due date. Most of the time it is recommended for the woman to receive treatments daily in order to maintain the momentum created after each session. The effects are not as instantaneous as a medical induction. Depending on how far into pre-labor the woman’s body is will dictate how many sessions will be needed.
During the acupuncture treatment the mom may notice increased movement of her baby and some contractions. Most women experience increased contractions in the evening and night after a session. Each subsequent day of treatment the mom should feel stronger contractions and like she is moving more in the direction of active labor.
For some women they may only need one treatment to put them over the edge and into labor. Many first time moms need more than one treatment and depending on how soft and dilated her cervix was at the beginning of treatment, we may suggest using other things in addition to the acupuncture. This may be nipple stimulation, walking, sex, herbs, etc.
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Morning Sickness
Most women experience some level of nausea during early pregnancy. It is almost never only in the morning so the term morning sickness is fairly inaccurate. Usually the nausea is worse when the stomach becomes empty, is paired with a hyper-sensitive sense of smell, food aversions and sometimes a bad taste in the mouth. Doctors believe all of these symptoms occur because of the rise in progesterone and other pregnancy hormones in the body. Once these stabilize around the start of the second trimester, nausea is usually greatly reduced. Those first two months can be fairly miserable and intensified by the worry that you aren’t consuming enough nutrients to feed the developing embryo and fetus. Sometimes your doctor must use prescription medicines when nausea leads to vomiting and dehydration. Oftentimes the medicine does not completely alleviate the nausea and acupuncture can still offer additional relief.
How can Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture help with Nausea?
While we are still discovering how exactly acupuncture affects different conditions, in the case of nausea during pregnancy it is most likely due to the fact that acupuncture can help balance hormones and also raise endorphin levels which make us feel better in general. Your acupuncturist will first listen to your description of symptoms. Every woman has a different experience of nausea- whether it is worse when they eat, dependant on what foods they eat, whether they have a bad taste in their mouth and how severe the nausea is. Your acupuncturist will then be able to give you an estimation of success with acupuncture, how long that might take and create a treatment plan. Most women feel like they can tolerate food and smells much better after acupuncture treatments.
How many treatments will I need?
Every woman responds differently to acupuncture treatment. Sometimes a woman may only need two treatments to feel better and some women need to come regularly for a month before they maintain a good effect. A general rule of thumb when trying acupuncture for nausea is to come for treatments twice a week for two weeks. This is ample time to evaluate whether acupuncture is going to be an effective remedy for you. Women who have not had acupuncture before may need two treatments to feel positive effects because the nature of a new experience is that it may be difficult to fully relax during the session.
What are the treatments like and do they hurt?
Women new to acupuncture may have reservations about voluntarily using needles to cure an already miserable situation. This is completely understandable and it should be known that acupuncture is hardly ever an uncomfortable experience for anyone. Especially when a patient is feeling sick and puny, the acupuncturist will take even more care and be very gentle when giving treatments. Women are always pleasantly surprised to find that they can barely feel the needles at all and feel refreshed and relaxed after the treatment.
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Advantages of Acupuncture Pre-Birth
According to the theories of Chinese medicine, the woman’s body right before birth presents an optimal time to balance hormone levels, strengthen the organ systems and make sure her and her baby’s bodies are in harmony. Acupuncture treatments leading up to birth have proven to increase the likelihood of delivering on the due date, reduce the time of labor and substantially reduce the need for interventions and caesarean sections. Certain points are known to help the cervix soften and dilate and others aid in helping the ligaments relax and loosen for the easy passage of the baby. Women who receive pre-birth acupuncture and do not go into labor spontaneously usually respond very well and quickly to induction either by acupuncture or medication.
How many treatments will I need?
In our experience working with pregnant women during labor and delivery, we recommend that women begin to come in for acupuncture treatments periodically throughout the third trimester. The time for the treatments gives the woman a chance to lie quietly and connect with her baby, preparing for the birth. Regular acupuncture through early third trimester can help convince the baby to take a head-down position and avoid the scare of being breech. Starting week 36 we have women come in once a week and we work to get her body ready for the labor process. The acupuncture is gentle and the experience is deeply relaxing for the mom-to-be. Back To Top |
