Wham: Acupuncture for Pregnancy Pain

An interesting report today on the medical wire from Newswise. You may find this of interest if you're pregnant or know someone who is. (Use the little email icon beneath the article to send it to your pregnant friend!). As it turns out, stretching exercises and acupuncture could help relieve back and pelvic pain that often occur during pregnancy, according to an updated review.

As pregnancy progresses, back and pelvic pain can interfere with daily activities such as carrying groceries, cleaning and walking, and can disrupt work or sleep also. More than two-thirds of pregnant women experience back pain and almost one-fifth report pelvic pain.

“When you’re pregnant, your center of gravity is off. You have to arch your back to balance this huge tummy, so you end up with extra strain on your back and pelvic muscles,” said Victoria Pennick, M.H.Sc., registered nurse and one of the lead authors of a review of these practices written up in the Cochrane Library.

Women who participated in a variety of intervention programs recognized some relief of back and pelvic pain, said Pennick, a senior clinical research project manager at the Institute for Work & Health in Toronto.

The review looked at eight studies that examined the effect of adding pregnancy-specific strengthening exercises, water exercises, acupuncture and other pain-relief interventions to regular prenatal care. None of the studies dealt specifically with back or pelvic pain prevention. The studies involved 1,305 pregnant women from Sweden, Iran, Brazil, Thailand and Australia.

The review authors found that women who participated in prenatal exercise programs reported significant decreases in back pain compared to women who received the usual prenatal care.

The intervention programs taught moms-to-be movements to stretch the pelvic muscles, strengthen the abdominal and hamstring muscles and increase spinal flexibility.

In one study that evaluated work absenteeism during pregnancy, only 12.9 percent of the pregnant women who participated in water gymnastics missed work due to low-back pain, compared with 21.7 percent of the women who received usual prenatal care.

In one study of women with both back and pelvic pain, 60 percent who received acupuncture reported less intense pain, compared to 14 percent of women who did not. The study found no complications associated with the use of acupuncture in pregnant women.

On average, women who followed through with the pelvic or back pain interventions experienced some pain relief and reported less need for pain medication, physical therapy and posture-support belts.

Dave