Pregnancy-Related Low Back Pain, Research Paper Example

As a nurse manager in maternity, I have experienced many alternative strategies to traditional care in my practice. In particular, many expecting mothers wish to integrate elements of Chinese medicine into their birthing experience. In particular, acupuncture has been used to alleviate pain in women during pregnancy and childbirth because it is easy to apply and has no detrimental side effects to the mother or the child. Many expecting mothers who wish to avoid the use of Western medicine during their delivery tend to incorporate use of Eastern medicine techniques. Some mothers prefer to not use Western medications to avoid the potentially harmful effects this could bring to their developing child, and acupuncture is a cost effective and safe alternative to this conventional treatment.

Massage is also an alternative strategy to traditional care that is used during pregnancy and at the time of childbirth. These techniques could be used in conjunction in a manner that calms the pregnant woman and allows her to feel more at ease during the delivery process (Wakefield et al., 2015). Furthermore, these techniques could be used to manage the pain these individuals experience following the delivery process (Allameh et al., 2015). While many patients have a preference of Western or Eastern medicine, many desire a combination of the two methods, as they believe that using a combination of techniques will allow their recovery to achieve maximal efficacy.

Studies have also shown that the use of acupuncture and massage reduce the need for caesarian section procedures. Although the reason for this is not currently known, this effect may be related to the reduction of stress that women experience as a consequence of these Eastern medicine techniques.

References

Allameh Z, Tehrani HG, Ghasemi M. (2015). Comparing the impact of acupuncture and pethidine on reducing labor pain. Adv Biomed Res., 12(4):46.

Waterfield J, Bartlam B, Bishop A, Holden MA, Barlas P, Foster NE. (2015). Physical Therapists’ Views and Experiences of Pregnancy-Related Low Back Pain and the Role of Acupuncture: Qualitative Exploration. Retrieved from       http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25929530