“I highly recommend Liz she is a great practitioner and extremely knowledgeable in her field. Testament of her treatment is my little boy”.

"I certainly benefited from seeing Liz for acupuncture sessions relating to both my pregnancies. They helped relax me as well as helped me to achieve 2 successful pregnancies. Liz's dietary advice was also extremely useful. I certainly would recommend acupuncture to friends and family - and in particular would recommend Liz Jeannet."  

pregnancy acupuncture

Acupuncture may offer a safe gentle option while pregnant.  Common reasons that patients seek help are morning sickness, drug free treatment of pain or anxiety, breech presentation, pre-birth preparation, acupuncture labour induction, and labour pain.  In Traditional Chinese Medicine it is also thought that keeping the body's energy in balance may reduce miscarriage risk. Not all studies demonstrate benefit but some of the positive results are listed here.

acupuncture for morning sickness and hyperemesis

• a review of 50 studies shows acupuncture to reduce nausea, benefit was also seen from ginger, vitamin B6, chamomile and medical drugs (Sridharan et al. 2018)

• review of more than 40 randomised controlled trials shows acupuncture has effect in preventing nausea and vomiting (Streitberger et al. 2006)

• acupressure bands applied to acupuncture point Pericardium 6 acupuncture point alleviated nausea in pregnancy (Gurkan et al. 2008)

• acupressure to Pericardium 6  acupuncture point was useful to reduce nausea and vomiting in hyperemesis gravidarum (Shin et al. 2007)

acupuncture for threatened miscarriage

• acupuncture reduced symptoms of threatened miscarriage including cramps, bleeding and back pain (Betts et al. 2016)

• acupuncture demonstrates beneficial hormonal responses and decreased miscarriage rates (Betts et al. 2012)

acupuncture for pain relief and anxiety during pregnancy

• acupuncture may relieve anxiety and depression in pregnancy (Smith et al. 2019)

• evidence supporting the  efficacy and safety of acupuncture to treat migraine during pregnancy (Airola et al. 2010))

• back pain & pelvic pain

  • 2 weeks ear acupuncture plus standard midwife care reduced lumbar and pelvic pain (Vas et al. 2019)

  • 5 sessions was a cost effective addition to usual care of pelvic and low back pain especially when allowing for work absenteeism (Nicolian et al. 2019)

  • reduction of low back pain and pelvic pain in pregnancy with acupuncture (Ekdahl & Petersson, 2010) (Lund et al. 2006) (Kvorning et al. 2004)

• acupuncture helped indigestion and heartburn in pregnancy with less need for medication (de Silva et al. 2009)

acupuncture for breech presentation

• studies of moxibustion at acupuncture point BL67 show

  • patient self treatment, followed by acupuncture if necessary, resulted in 62.4%  of babies turning and having a natural birth (Brici et al. 2019)

  • effective and safe to correct non-vertex presentation when used between 33 and 35 weeks (Vas et al. 2013)

  • appears to be a safe, easy and cost effective way to promote cephalic presentation (Weston et al. 2012)

  • cephalic version among the moxibustion group of 72.5% vs 53.2% in the control group (Vas et al. 2009)

  • cephalic presentation in the moxibustion group was 53.6% compared to 36.7%, in the control group, and the proportion of C-sections for breech presentation was significantly lower in the acupuncture group (Neri et al. 2004)

• the moxa treatment needs to be taught by a practitioner and then the patient can continue the treatment at home

acupuncture for pre-birth preparation and cervical ripening

• a Cochrane review of 22 trials shows some benefit to cervical ripening with acupuncture treatment (Smith et al. 2017)

• acupressure to Spleen 6 acupuncture point assisted cervical ripening in pregnancies at term (Torkzahrani et al. 2015)

• acupuncture achieves similar results with cervical ripening compared with misoprostol, with lower rate of C-sections and without obstetric complications (Gribel et al. 2011)

acupuncture for induction of labour

• women at 40+2 weeks who received acupuncture had a reduced need for medical induction and oxytocin use (Neri et al. 2018)

• a review of 10 studies states that acupuncture may be beneficial in labor induction (Lim et al. 2009)

• small study shows shorter time from treatment to delivery, and shorter labour overall by 2 hours and 20 minutes in the acupuncture group (Gaudet et al. 2008)

• acupuncture at Spleen 6 and LI4 points supports cervical ripening at term and can shorten the time between the due date and the actual time of delivery (Rabl et al. 2001)

acupuncture & acupressure for pain during labour

• literature review stating that acupuncture may reduce pain, need for analgesics, use of forceps or vacuum assisted births, and length of labour (Schlaeger et al. 2017)

• electroacupuncture reduced both labour pain and length of labour (Dong et al. 2015)

• a Cochrane review of 13 studies shows reduced pain in labour with acupuncture treatment (Smith et al. 2011)

• reduced need for medication and medical intervention during labour with acupuncture treatment (Borup et al. 2009)

• reduced need for epidurals and greater relaxation with acupuncture during labour (Ramnero et al. 2002)

• acupressure at

  • acupuncture point LI4 was effective at decreasing pain and duration of labour (Hamidzadeh et al. 2012)

  • acupuncture point Spleen 6 was effective for decreasing labour pain and shortening labour (Yesilcicek et al. 2014) (Lee et al. 2004)