Pregnancy Acupuncture

Pregnancy is a time of extraordinary physical and emotional change. It’s also a time when it’s more important than ever to support and care for your well-being. Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) can help you meet the unique challenges of pregnancy, hence ensuring optimal health for you and your baby in a safe and natural way.

Acupuncture for pregnancy- what to expect?

Acupuncture has been used in China for thousands of years to regulate the female reproductive system. Acupuncture and TCM are based on the concept that Qi (pronounced “Chee”) or vital energy, flows through the body in channels called meridians. Practitioners of acupuncture and TCM work to balance the Qi in the body’s meridian and organ systems by manipulating corresponding points on the body.

For a healthy pregnancy, treatment is often recommended once a month with weekly treatments in the last month. However, your practitioner will tailor your treatment entirely to your needs and choose points based on your unique symptoms and concerns.

Since some acupuncture points should not be used during pregnancy, it’s important to choose a practitioner experienced in prenatal acupuncture. It’s also important to discuss any treatments or herbal supplements with all of your prenatal health care providers.

Relief for common concerns

Regular balancing treatments throughout your pregnancy can enhance your health as well as your baby’s health, potentially preventing complications and positively influencing the development of your baby. Many mothers-to-be find themselves facing anxiety, fatigue, back pain, heartburn, nausea, and other symptoms as a result of the many new demands being placed on their bodies. Acupuncture has been found to effectively relieve many of these symptoms.

During pregnancy acupuncture can help with

• Relieve pain include headache, back hip pain
• Reduce labor and delivery pain
• Swelling legs and arms
• Relieve symptoms of nausea, heart burn, constipation
• Relax reduce symptoms of anxiety
• Improve your sleep and energy

Acupuncture can support your pregnancy by addressing these trimester symptoms

• First trimester –sets the foundation for a healthy pregnancy. It can alleviate morning sickness, vomiting, fatigue and headaches.
• Second trimester –offers relief and balances the body from common complaints. It helps to alleviate heartburn, haemorrhoids, stress, sleep problems, oedema, elevated blood pressure and weight gain.
• Third trimester – prepares the body for labor and delivery, it helps to alleviate sciatica pain, hip joint pain, pubic and back pain.

Morning sickness responds particularly well to acupuncture and your practitioner can even show you specific points that you can massage at home to help restore your appetite. Recent studies have also shown some results in using acupuncture for depression symptoms during and after pregnancy.

Breech babies

Traditionally some specific acupuncture points and techniques are used to turn “breech babies” (those positioned feet first). One study concluded that foetal mal-presentation is a relatively simple, efficacious and inexpensive method for breech birth presentation. Treatment involves moxibustion, or applying heat from the burning of the herb mugwort to a point just outside the nail of the little toe. The treatment causes little adverse side effects.

 

Using moxibustion in primary healthcare to correct non-vertex presentation: a multicentre randomised controlled trial