NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who receive acupuncture during labor may be less likely to ask for an epidural to relieve their pain, and may even feel more relaxed, than those who go without the ancient Chinese treatment, Swedish researchers report.

Agneta Ramnero of Orebro University Hospital in Sweden and her colleagues also report that women who received acupuncture did not experience any negative effects from the treatment.

"The results suggest that acupuncture could be a good alternative or complement to those (patients) who seek an alternative to pharmacological analgesia in childbirth," the authors write.

An ancient therapy that arose in China more than 2,000 years ago, acupuncture involves placing fine needles at specific points on the body's surface. Traditional theory holds that these points connect with energy pathways, or meridians, that run through the body, and acupuncture helps keep this natural energy flow running smoothly.

Previous research has shown that acupuncture can help relieve pain caused by a variety of conditions. In recent years, more and more women in Sweden have requested acupuncture to relieve the pain of childbirth, the report indicates, and the practice has attracted the attention of midwives and obstetricians.

During the study, Ramnero and her colleagues administered acupuncture to 46 patients while they were in labor. At least once an hour during labor, participants noted how much pain they were experiencing, and how relaxed they felt. The investigators compared the experiences of the acupuncture-treated women with 44 others who did not receive the therapy.

While in labor, all women had constant access to other methods of pain relief, including epidurals, nerve blocks and warm rice bags.

Acupuncture was administered by midwives who had gone through a 4-day course on the use of acupuncture during labor. Each woman's treatment was individualized during her labor, according to the type of pain she was experiencing.

Ramnero's team found that women who received acupuncture were half as likely to request an epidural during labor, and less likely to ask for other types of pain relief, such as nerve stimulation therapy or a warm rice bag. However, the treatment appeared to have no significant effect on how much pain the women said they were feeling, according to the report in a recent issue of the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Women who received acupuncture also reported feeling more relaxed than their untreated peers, the authors add, which may have influenced how they handled their pain.

"If the (patient) is more relaxed, she is likely to have more control and consequently be more able to cope with the pain," Ramnero and her team write.

Acupuncture appeared to have no effect on the length of time women were in labor, the authors add.

In an interview with Reuters Health, Stephen W. Flores, an acupuncturist in private practice and an instructor at the Swedish Institute in New York City, said that he has had success using acupuncture for pain management during labor. However, he said he may hesitate to recommend acupuncture for this purpose to a woman who has never experienced it before.

Some people may be uncomfortable with needles, he said, especially when they have to be left in for long periods of time. And adding a new procedure during labor, an exceptionally trying experience, may not be a good thing, he noted.

"It's (not a good) time to be asking somebody to try something new," he said.

SOURCE: British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 2002;109:637-644.

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