Guided visualisations in childbirth
Relaxation and guided visualisation can be particularly helpful for women suffering from post-natal depression according to a study reported in the Journal of Holistic Nursing. Researchers monitored women who had given birth to their first child for the first four weeks following the births. Those women who were given relaxation exercises and guided visualisations showed reduced depression and anxiety but also improved self-esteem than women in the control group.

 

Hydrotherapy in Childbirth

Researchers at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. University of Liverpool, United Kingdom have confirmed earlier research findings that hydrotherapy is extremely beneficial for pregnant mother-to-be during labour.

The use of birthing pools (luring labour is increasing in the United Kingdom, and researchers felt the need to establish whether this was justified by investigating the value and safety of hydrotherapy as a birthing aid.

The study was performed in a District General Hospital in Liverpool where a group of 100 women of low obstetric risk used the birthing pool at some stage (luring their labour’s and a control group of 100 women were matched in terms of age, parity and obstetric history hut laboured and delivered without the use of a birthing pool.

The main outcome measures were operative delivery rates, duration of labour, analgesic requirements. perineal trauma and Apgar scores at 1 and 5 minutes.

The results showed that those women who used the birthing pool had significantly reduced operative delivery rates, a shorter second stage of labour, reduced analgesic requirements and a lower incidence of perineal trauma. The women who used the birthing pool also required significantly less analgesic aid.

The report concluded that hydrotherapy during labour significantly aids the labour process, minimises the use of analgesic medications md should he considered as a safe and effective birthing aid.

 

To study the analgesia efficacy of drugs combined with acupuncture analgesia for painless labor, 462 normal pregnancy women were observed. During the latent phase in labor, several analgesia methods: acupuncture analgesia, analgesics, magnetotherapy and auricular acupressure, TENS combined with dihydroetorphine were used respectively. While the intrauterine pressure and the peripheral content of beta-EP were measured during labor, the experiments of SEPS were also performed on healthy adults to demonstrate the analgesia efficacy of those analgesia methods. The combination of drugs with acupuncture is an excellent method for painless labor without any complications and all the mothers and babies are safety. The effectiveness is 97.5%. The results demonstrate that the mechanism of analgesia efficacy should be regulated the incoordinate uterine action and improve the hypertonic status of uterus, but also can decrease the pain threshold and elevate the tolerance of uterine contractions during labor.

 

Whenever stress and nervous tension are present, reflexology, like massage and aromatherapy can be very effective in inducing relaxation. It will also help to 'balance' organs and tissues throughout the body and, acting through the nervous system, actually help strengthen and normalise the circulatory system. In this way, it can help activate the body's own healing force to aid recovery.

Reflexology may also be employed to help stimulate the reproductive organs through the autonomic nervous system and so help strengthen and correct under functioning organs and balance hormonal function. Although there are no controlled studies on the subject of reflexology and infertility, there have been research studies relating to the effects of reflexology and childbirth.

A study at the Gentofte Hospital in Copenhagen revealed that reflexology is beneficial to women during the labour of childbirth. 58 out of 60 women giving birth experienced "outstanding pain relief using reflexology treatment", and 11 out of 14 women were able to avoid surgery under general anaesthesia. Dr Carsten Lenstrup was so impressed by the results that he said: "Taken as a whole, the results are so good that am not in any doubt that reflexology can give many women a better, easier and less painful delivery than they would have had otherwise." (2)

The findings of the Gentofte study were supported by a further study carried out by Dr Gowri Motva at the Jeyrani Birth Centre on the effects of reflexology on pregnant women. 37 pregnant women completed a course of 10 reflexology treatments with remarkable effect. The average length of the first stage of labour was 5 hours whereas the text book average is 16 - 24 hours; the second stage of labour lasted an average of 16 minutes compared to the text book expectancy of 1 - 2 hours, and only 5.4% of the women who had reflexology treatment required emergency caesarian section compared to an average of 13% in Newham district which was the district where the study was conducted

When three whirlpool baths (Jacuzzis) were ordered as part of the renovations in a birthing unit in the USA, it was seen as an ideal opportunity to conduct a randomised, controlled trial to explore the effects of the whirlpool baths on narcotic and epidermal requirements of women during labour.

A simple protocol was set up; 393 women were offered the whirlpool during labour and the control group of 392 women received conventional care. The labour’s were all recorded and the results analysed.

The first point of note was that no births occurred in the tub, a common fear of many women and healthcare professionals. All of the women in the hydrotherapy

group were able to get out of the whirl-pool before the final stage of labour.

What was remarkable was the fact that the results showed clearly that the hydrotherapy group required fewer pharmacologic agents than women in the control group (66% vs 59%), experienced fewer deliveries by forceps and vacuum, and were more likely to have an intact perineum than the standard-care group.

Labour was longer for the women in the hydrotherapy group, who coincidentally were more primiparous and in earlier labour on admission. No differences were noted in the low rates of maternal and newborn signs of infection in women with ruptured membranes.

The report concluded that Whirlpool baths in labour have very positive effects on analgesia requirements, instrumentation rates, condition of the perineum, and personal satisfaction. In fact, the re-searchers were so impressed with the results of their study that further trials are being planned