It’s no secret that labor hurts. The biblical curse of Eve lasted for many centuries until very recently. Obstetrical anesthesia in the modern form (pain relief in labor) is approximately 50 years old. Epidural anesthesia is proven to be helpful to many, yet it’s not complication free. In our hospital women are offered an alternative way of childbirth-waterbirth.
Another alternative is acupuncture. The World Health Organization mentions acupuncture as a nonpharmacological method to use during labor and emphasizes the necessity of clinical studies to validate this role of acupuncture. Recently two researchers from Tarbiat University in Tehran ( Iran ) shared their experience with acupuncture in labor. The actual acupuncture treatment consisted in inserting single-use, solid titanium needles in the appropriate acupoints in the muscle until good chi flow-a feeling of numbness, tingling, and warmth-was achieved. The needles were positioned at points GV 20 and Yingtang (the relaxing points) and ST 36, SP 6, Ll 4, Ll3, and CV 2,3 (the analgesic points.
In this study acupuncture was not very helpful to manage pain but decreased the need for oxytocin use
Comment: Acupuncture like other alternative medicines is a combination of art, experience and science. We agree with the authors conclusion that acupuncture may indeed decrease the need for labor augmentation, but further studies with a larger number of patients are required to ascertain the effects of acupuncture during labor. As very often in medical science we are looking for one thing (in this case pain relief) and finding something else (more natural course of labor).