Researchers at the University Hospital Center Sestre Milosrdnice in Croatia, have shown that adding ear acupuncture to analgesics is helpful in managing episiotomy pain. A total of 60 women who had undergone episiotomy were randomised to receive either acupuncture plus oral painkillers on request (29), or painkillers alone (31).
Results showed that in the acupuncture group, women’s subjective experience of pain was significantly reduced on the second and third days postpartum, although they did not show a corresponding significant reduction in use of analgesics. No adverse effects of acupuncture were noted. The researchers say that the results prompt the question of whether current ‘best practice’ may yet be improved.
(Auricular acupuncture as effective pain relief after episiotomy: a randomized controlled pilot study. Archives of Gynecology & Obstetrics, November 2019.)
Author: Robin Costello
I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training.
I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.
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