Did you know that acupuncture can be a safe and useful therapy during pregnancy?
Your first point of care during pregnancy should be your midwife or GP. If you have any concerns about your pregnancy please seek medical attention. Acupuncture can be used as a safe adjunct to medical care.
Acupuncture offers several potential benefits during pregnancy including short term relief from:
- Stress and anxiety
- back pain
- pelvic pain
Sue Bailes reports she “has treated women with morning sickness in the first trimester with limited success. I have also treated hyperemesis  gravidarum. In order for the treatment to be successful you need to have a few treatments close together, for example two a week initially.
I have treated musculoskeletal pain including back pain, pelvic girdle pain and many women in the third trimester get carpal tunnel in pregnancy which I have treated successfully.”
During acupuncture treatment it is important that you feel relaxed and comfortable.  From 35  weeks you can either be treated sat on a chair leaning onto the bed or lying on your left hand side. We may use a pillow to support the bump and a bolster between your knees to take the strain off your lower back.  During the first trimester you can lie on your back. In the second trimester it depends on which position is most comfortable for you.
For most women it is safe to receive acupuncture from a qualified practitioner throughout pregnancy.  Your therapist will probably use relatively few needles in order to make the treatment for tolerable.
She has also treated a woman in early labour using very strong downbearing points in energy to try and help baby along.
Your acupuncturist may also teach you and your birth partner how to use acupressure points during labour.
Acupuncture is relatively safe with no records of serious adverse events in the pregnancy-related systematic reviews (Cho 2010; Lim 2009; Vas 2009; Ee 2008).