Qi Spot

Acupuncture can reduce the need for cesarean sections

Deborah Mitchell writes in Emaxhealth (link) that Acupuncture during pregnancy reduces the chances of necessitating a cesarean birth.  Now in my opinion, cesarean births are to be avoided as much as possible because the operation itself slices through important meridians.  In the classical C-section, where a line is cut from below the navel downwards, only the conception vessel is affected.

These days, however, the lower section c-section is more popular, ostensibly to preserve the bikini line.  It should be noted though, that being a transverse (side to side) cut, it can cut through the Kidney and Stomach meridians as well.  Anyway the point is, less slicing, the better.

Except for pizza.

In 1965, the rate of cesarean births in the United States was 4.5 percent. Yet in December 2007, the National Center for Health Statistics reported that the cesarean delivery rate in the United States for 2006 was 31.1 percent. This rate exceeds the rate in Canada, which reports that nearly 28 percent of the infants born in that country in 2007 and 2008 were by cesarean.

Uh oh.  That means almost 1/3 of women will have problems later on.  But let’s see the good news with acupuncture

For example, in a randomized, controlled trial of acupuncture in first-time mothers, researchers evaluated 56 women who were randomly assigned to either a control group (no acupuncture) or three outpatient acupuncture treatments during pregnancy. Compared with the control group, women in the acupuncture group were more likely to labor spontaneously (70% vs 50%) and less likely to have a cesarean birth (39% vs 17%).

Now, I wish she mentioned precisely what these ladies were getting acupuncture treatments for.  My first guess is that they were getting treated for controlling breech pregnancies?  Anyway I will skip to the end of the article plus the sources she quotes.

According to Debra Betts, an international expert on acupuncture and author of Essential Acupuncture for Pregnancy and Childbirth, acupuncture delivered during pregnancy can reduce nausea, high blood pressure, and back pain, and can naturally induce labor, thus reducing cesarean births. Betts is presenting the workshop on acupuncture and cesarean births and related information in Vancouver.

SOURCES:
Cunningham FG et al. “Cesarean delivery and peripartum hysterectomy. In Williams, Obstetrics 22nd ed. 2005
Harper TC et al. Journal of Maternal Fetal Neonatal Medicine 2006 Aug; 19(8): 465-70
Kolas T et al. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 2006; 195(6): 1538-43.
News-Medical.net October 9, 2009
Taffel SM et al. American Journal of Public Health 1987; 77:955-59

So there you have it, acupuncture recommended to cut down the need for cesarean deliveries.  I only with we had more details though.

SOURCES

Mitchell, Deborah.  “Acupuncture May Help Prevent Cesarean Births” Emaxhealth.com 11 October 2009.  12 October 2009 <http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/84/34080/acupuncture-may-help-prevent-cesarean-births.html>