Acupuncture is the ancient Chinese technique of using tiny needles to stimulate specific locations or "meridians" of the physique and to rebalance the body's energy, or chi. Simply because acupuncture is especially efficient for chronic circumstances, numerous pregnant women are turning to acupuncture to provide drug-totally free relief from numerous of the unpleasant signs and symptoms of pregnancy.
An Australian study showed that women who received acupuncture remedies frequently prior to their 14th week of pregnancy had much less nausea and shorter bouts of morning sickness than women who did not acquire the therapy. Acupuncture has also been utilized to treat the much more serious condition hyperemesis gravidarum, which causes serious vomiting that persists throughout pregnancy.
All through the second trimester, acupuncture has been utilized to successfully treat heartburn and hemorrhoids. In the third trimester, acupuncture can provide relief from sciatica, joint discomfort and carpal tunnel syndrome, which numerous women create late in pregnancy. Acupuncture has even been utilized to relieve discomfort during labor and delivery.
Pregnant women seeking to use acupuncture to treat circumstances created during pregnancy should be certain to go to a licensed and experienced acupuncturist. For example, even though acupuncture can be utilized to treat edema, or swelling of the ankles, edema can be an indicator of a serious problem. An acupuncturist experienced in treating pregnant women would be much more most likely to acknowledge this problem and refer the patient back to her obstetrician.
The most serious risk of using acupuncture during pregnancy is that it might stimulate labor if it is improperly applied. Selecting an experienced practitioner reduces this risk to nearly negligible levels. In reality, numerous women have turned to acupuncture to purposefully stimulate labor when their child is overdue. Some women have found that labor induced by acupuncture is gentler than labor induced by drugs such as Pitocin.
In addition to advantages during pregnancy, labor and delivery, acupuncture has been utilized to promote fertility and to treat infertility. In a small German study, women who utilized acupuncture in conjunction with in vitro fertilization had a 42.5% success rate compared to 26.3% in women who utilized in vitro fertilization alone. Fertility specialists attribute this to the general improvement of nicely being that comes from receiving normal acupuncture remedies.
Finally, acupuncture might have some advantages in treating post-partum depression. Even though no study has been carried out to assistance the efficacy of acupuncture remedies on post-partum depression, anecdotal evidence shows that some women do advantage from its use. Simply because acupuncture does not cause dangerous drug interactions, it can be a useful complimentary treatment.
Jonathon Hardcastle
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