Research on Acupuncture and Pelvic Pain in Pregnancy

In 2015 a Cochrane review was done looking at  different trials on the therapeutic effects of various modalities in treating pelvic pain and back pain in pregnancy. These modalities included acupuncture, physiotherapy, exercise, cranio-sacral therapy, osteomanipulative therapy or a mute-modal intervention (manual therapy,exercise and education). Of these trials reviewed 26 involved acupuncture and physiotherapy involving 4093 women.

Included in the findings was that:

• Acupuncture significantly  improved pelvic pain compared to usual prenatal care
• Acupuncture was significantly more effective than exercise for reducing pelvic pain.

The Author's conclusions:

"There is low-quality evidence that exercise (any exercise on land or in water), may reduce pregnancy-related low-back pain and moderate- to low-quality evidence suggesting that any exercise improves functional disability and reduces sick leave more than usual prenatal care. Evidence from single studies suggests that acupuncture or craniosacral therapy improves pregnancy-related pelvic pain, and osteomanipulative therapy or a multi-modal intervention (manual therapy, exercise and education) may also be of benefit."

To review this research in more detail click here