Acupuncture: No Help for Labor Pain
May 3rd 2010 -
Labor pains can not relieve with acupuncture. The pain relief after placement of the needles is not stronger than, say, drugs in sham (placebo), sham acupuncture or conventional form of anesthesia. This is the conclusion a British-Korean research team after carrying out the analysis of ten international studies on the subject. to have the Asian healing method seems neither a positive nor a negative impact on mother and child, says Dr. Hyangsook Lee of Kyung Hee University in Seoul. “Acupuncture can indeed possibly the use of painkillers such as meperidine (pethidine) decrease.” The evidence on this is, however, sparse. “Overall, the current evidence no recommendation for the use of acupuncture in labor,” says the researcher.
In the ten studies analyzed, a total of some 2,000 pregnant women. Some of them had received acupuncture during labor, in the form of classical acupuncture, electro-acupuncture or ear. Actually nothing, we found the evaluation of the results summary found the acupunctured women is scarcely less labor pains as expectant mothers, a common anesthetic, a supposedly relieve pain medication (placebo), a sham acupuncture or any type of pain management have received.
Only one possible effect could discover the scientist: women in labor, which had been needled, needed less meperidine (a synthetic opioid with analgesic effect) and required less frequently for other methods of pain relief. Lee and colleagues have for a possible explanation: The setting of the needles were the women may feel that you care about her, which was enough to make one more unnecessary pain. In this sense also says Professor Philip Steer, BJOG editor in chief: “The fact that acupuncture is helpful in a few cases with birth pains, could rely more on a psychological than a physiological effect.”
Tags: acupunture, analgesic effect, labor pains, placebo, sham acupunture
