A study undertaken at two hospitals in Sweden has found that women who received acupuncture or electroacupuncture during labour, used less epidural analgesia compared with those receiving standard care. The randomised controlled trial recruited 303 first-time mothers with normal pregnancies. They were randomised to receive 40 minutes of either acupuncture or electroacupuncture (repeated two hours later and thereafter on request), or just standard care alone.
Although subjective pain scores did not differ across the groups, whilst 70% of the standard care group had an epidural, only 61% of the acupuncture group had one, reducing further to 46% of the electroacupuncture group.
(Acupuncture with manual and electrical stimulation for labour pain: a longitudinal randomised controlled trial. BMC Complementary & Alternative Medicine, 9 June 2014.)
Author: Robin Costello
I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training.
I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.
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