Summer 2014

Schedule Update

Starting September 1st, I will be making a few changes to the business hours:

Acupuncture Can Support A Healthy Pregnancy

Acupuncture Can Support A Healthy Pregnancy

Acupuncture is a safe, gentle, and effective approach to improve the health of a woman and her baby during pregnancy. Pregnancy can be a profound experience causing a woman's body to undergo many physical and emotional changes. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine is an effective treatment option when often there are few alternatives offered by western medicine to reduce some of the uncomfortable changes during each trimester.

Acupuncture is helpful in treating some of the common complaints associated with pregnancy:

Labor and Childbirth Support:

Research shows women receiving acupuncture from week 37 of pregnancy to delivery significantly improve their labor and child birth experience with less pain and shorter delivery.

In the last several months, I have treated many women seeking assistance to improve their labor and child birth experience. Acupuncture is a safe and gentle way to prepare the mother's body for labor. The treatment will encourage the body to release prostaglandins which help soften the cervix, enhance dilation, and release oxytocin to begin contractions. Since the treatment is working with the woman's own hormones, the result is a more gradual and less traumatic labor experience.

I typically recommend weekly treatments for women starting week 37 until delivery. These treatments can provide the following benefits:

Although acupuncture can help prepare the mother's body, it will not cause labor before the baby is ready. Labor is triggered from signals given by the baby's body. Acupuncture will help prepare the mother's body once the baby has triggered labor to begin.

Once a woman has reached her due date, treatments can be done to begin labor induction as long as there has been permission by the OBGYN or midwife. Most women who have reached their due date need one to three treatments before going into labor. If the treatment is effective, labor will start within 48 hours. Therefore, my recommendation for women who are approaching a scheduled medical induction is to receive their acupuncture treatment at least 48 hours prior to the medical induction. An Australian study found acupuncture to be 88% effective in labor induction efforts.

If you are interested in learning how acupuncture can support and improve your pregnancy, call today or book online to make an appointment.

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