Pregnancy, Childbirth & Post-Partum Care

Jenny at Eastwest offers Pregnancy, Childbirth and Post-Partum Care programs based on Chinese medicine principles and treatment strategies, nutritional requirements and current Chinese medicine and biomedical research.

Chinese medicine offers a safe, effective and relatively inexpensive option for many women who are cautious about using drugs during pregnancy, for labour induction, or while breast-feeding. There is strong evidence supporting the efficacy of Chinese medicine for pregnancy disorders, childbirth preparation and post-partum conditions based on the following substantiated effects:

Jenny has helped many women by using acupuncture and Chinese herbs for a wide range of obstetric conditions such as:

Eastwest Fertility is pleased to announce a birthing support service. Camilla provides acupuncture and massage throughout the labour. She has attending labours at several hospitals including the Royal Women and Children's Hospital, the Mater and the Ipswich Hospitals. Contact the clinic for more information.

.... I wanted to so much THANK YOU for you wonderful support and skills and attention to Desiree for Willem's birth.
It was a memorable experience to share with such wonderful people and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your support lent such confidence to Desiree and me, making my role as a supporter so much easier    Judy, Desiree's mum 24 April 2008, Willem born at Birth Centre, RBWH 

Clinical studies of Chinese medicine & obstetric disorders

Morning sickness

Vickers conducted a meta-analysis of 33 clinical trials in 1996 to assess the efficacy of acupuncture on nausea. His analysis determined there is substantial evidence that acupuncture reduces various types of mild to moderate nausea /vomiting including morning sickness.

A 2002 Australian study published in Birth involving 600 pregnant women in their first trimester demonstrated the efficacy of acupuncture for morning sickness. The acupuncture group was given weekly 20-minute sessions of acupuncture for four weeks. Research co-ordinator Dr Caroline Smith, from the Women's and Children's Hospital & Adelaide University stated: ‘We found that traditional acupuncture reduced nausea throughout the trial with dry retching being reduced from the second week’.

Breech presentation

In 1998 Cardini & Weixin studied 260 women in their 33 week of a 1st pregnancy with ultrasound diagnosis of breech presentation. Half received a daily 30 minute treatment of a Chinese medicine therapy called moxa for 1-2 weeks while the other half served as a control group. The researchers concluded that performing moxa from week 33 for 1 or 2 weeks is a safe and effective method for converting breech presentations after observing the following results:

Pelvic pain

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) reported on a study by Elden et al to compare the efficacy of different treatment approaches for pelvic pain. Acupuncture with the standard treatment for pelvic pain: pelvic belt, patient education and home abdominal strengthening exercises, was compared to standard treatment pulse physiotherapy stabilising exercises. Acupuncture was given twice weekly for 6 weeks while the treatment protocol for the physiotherapy group involved going to an exercise centre once a week combined with home exercises several times daily. The results showed acupuncture was superior to stabilising exercises for pelvic pain during pregnancy.

Pre-Birth treatment & labour preparation

The first pre-birth study in 1974 by Kubista & Kucera was verified by later studies which also concluded acupuncture from week 37 was successful in reducing mean labour time.

A 2001 randomised study headed by Rabl involving 45 women investigated the effect of acupuncture on cervical ripening to reduce post-date inductions. The authors concluded acupuncture supports cervical ripening and shortens the time interval between the expected due date and the actual delivery time.

A New Zealand observational study undertaken by Betts & Lennox involving midwives and 169 women over a 4 month period concluded that pre-birth acupuncture treatment provided many positive therapeutic results that promoted a normal vaginal delivery, reduced medical interventions with lower inductions and emergency Caesareans and shortened labour. Treatments were given from the 37th-40th week of gestation.

References

Betts D & Lennox S. 2006, ‘Acupuncture pre-birth treatment: an observational study of its use in midwifery practice’, Journal of Medical Acupuncture, May 2006, Vol 17, Issue 3, pp.17-20.

Cardini, F & Weixin, H 1998, ‘Moxibustion for correction of breech presentation: a randomised controlled trial’, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 280, Issue 18, pp. 1580-84.

Elden H, Ladfors I, Fagevik Olsen M. Ostaard H, Hagberg H. ‘Effects of acupuncture and stabilising exercises as adjunct to standard treatment in pregnant women with pelvic girdle pain: a randomised single blind controlled trial’, British Medical Journal, 330(7494), p. 761.

Kubista E & Kucera H. 1974, ‘Acupuncture as a method of preparation in obstetrics’, American Journal of Acupuncture, Vol. 2, Issue 3, pp 283-7.

Rabl M, Ahner R, Bitschnau M, Zeisler H, Husslein P. 2001, ‘Acupuncture for cervical ripening and induction of labour at term – a randomised controlled trial’, Wien Klin Wochenschr ; Vol. 113 (23-24), pp. 942-6.

Smith C, Crowther C, Bellby J. ‘Acupuncture to treat nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy’, Birth, 2002, Vol 29, pp. 1-9.

Vickers, A.J. 1996, ‘Can acupuncture have specific effects on health? A systematic review of
acupuncture antiemesis trials’, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol. 89, pp. 303-11.