Acupuncture & TCM Articles

Acupuncture Relieves Pelvic Pain During Pregnancy

Acupuncture Relieves Pelvic Pain During Pregnancy

Acupuncture and strengthening exercises help relieve pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy and are effective complements to standard treatment, finds a study published online by the BMJ today.

Pelvic girdle pain is a common complaint among pregnant women worldwide, but no cure exists.

Researchers in Sweden identified 386 pregnant women with pelvic girdle pain. Women were randomly divided into three groups; one received standard treatment (a pelvic belt and a home exercise programme), another received standard treatment plus acupuncture, and the third received standard treatment plus stabilising exercises to improve mobility and strength.

Pain levels were recorded every morning and evening using a recognised scale and all women were assessed by an independent examiner at the end of the treatment period.

After treatment, both the acupuncture group and the stabilising exercise group had less pain than the standard group in the morning and in the evening. Reduction of pelvic girdle pain as assessed by the independent examiner was greatest in the acupuncture group.

Acupuncture or stabilising exercises as an adjunct to standard treatment offers clear clinical advantages over standard treatment alone for reduction of pain in pregnant women with pelvic girdle pain, say the authors.

Acupuncture was superior to stabilising exercises in this study, they conclude.

Fire in the Valley:
The Traditional Chinese Medical Diagnosis and Treatment of Vaginal Diseases
by Bob Flaws

DESCRIPTION: This book is a collection of translations from classical and modern Chinese sources on the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the vagina, cervix, and external genitalia. Herbal and acupuncture protocols are given for vaginitis, cervicitis, cervical erosion, herpes genitalia, vaginal itch, yeast infections, venereal warts, abnormal vaginal discharge, bartholinitis, Naboth’s cyst, and more.
Dai xia is usually translated as abnormal vaginal discharge or leukorrhea. Dai means belt or girdle and refers to the dai mai or belt vessel. Xia means down or below. Traditionally, Chinese doctors specializing in gynecology were often called dai xia yi or dai xia doctors and dai xia ke or specialty in dai xia was a synonym for gynecology or problems below the belt. To this day, if one asks what constitutes traditional Chinese fu ke or gynecology, the answer is jing dai chan hou or menstrual complaints, dai xia, and pre and postpartum conditions. Zhang Zhong-qing's Jin Gui Yao Lue (Essentials from the Golden Cabinet) is the first Chinese medical classic to contain a chapter specifically devoted to gynecology.