One often expects pregnancy to be a time of excitement and glow – and it is! Unfortunately, though, it can also come with physical and emotional aches and pains.
At some point, pregnant folks will naturally turn to various treatments for relief.
We’re here to recommend acupuncture as one of those forms of relief! Read this brief list to learn about the 5 great benefits of acupuncture during pregnancy.
Relieves Aches and Pains
Bodily aches and pains are sadly unavoidable during pregnancy. And Tylenol can only take you so far.
The hormone, Relaxin, prepares your body for childbirth. It loosens your joints and relaxes your cervical and pelvic ligaments. This, combined with added weight and a shifted center of gravity, can result in pain, discomfort, and cramps (especially in your second or third trimester).
During an acupuncture treatment, tiny, sterile needles are inserted into specific nerve clusters that are connected to various muscles in your body. These needles stimulate nerves, connecting tissues, and muscles, resulting in many health benefits.
Acupuncture has been known to relieve pelvic, neck, rib, and lower back pain. Not to mention headaches, swelling, and leg cramps!
Reduces Depression and Anxiety
Blood flow, circulation, and oxygen transportation are improved in the area where acupuncture needles are inserted. This not only helps with physical aches and pains, but emotional ones as well.
Your mental health is vital to a healthy baby, a healthy mommy, and a healthy mommy-baby relationship. Antepartum and postpartum depression and anxiety can put a toll on all. But there are ways to manage your mental health during pregnancy.
Acupuncture promotes endorphin and serotonin production in the brain. These natural chemicals calm anxiety and stress, increase your energy and vitality levels, and regulate your mood.
And besides, doesn’t some pampering and self-care sound restorative? Indulge yourself, mommy!
Helps with Labor (Pains, Prep, and Induction)
Acupuncture treatment can be administered safely at any point of gestation. But you will want to focus on preparing the body for labor during the third trimester. 30 minutes of acupuncture once a week can do wonders!
Women who are treated with acupuncture are less likely to use pain medications during birth (such as an epidural). This is because acupuncture softens and relaxes uterine ligaments and promotes dilation of the cervix.
An additional benefit of acupuncture is the encouragement of one’s uterine muscles to contract effectively during birth. This induces a faster, easier, more natural birth – something we are certain everyone wants!
Lessens Morning Sickness
There are many important things you should know about pregnancy and for which you should prepare yourself.
Morning sickness is one of the nasty ones.
Acupuncture is known to help with nausea and vomiting, sometimes within minutes of treatment! How appealing does that sound?
Acupuncture balances your energy flow through your body’s meridians or energy channels. This energy flow encourages your digestive system to flow as well when a needle is inserted into a specific spleen-connected channel.
This means you’ll be relieved from that highly uncomfortable heartburn and constipation too.
Encourages Breeched Babies to Turn
You may be encouraged to combine acupuncture with another remedy, moxibustion, for breech presentation. Moxibustion is another ancient Chinese remedy consisting of burning dried herbs near your skin’s surface. This also encourages energy flow.
Acupuncture and moxibustion are normally used in combination in the case of a breeched baby. These remedies will likely be administered in conjunction between weeks 32 and 35. They can aid in optimizing fetal positioning by warming acupuncture points, therefore encouraging the baby to move and turn naturally.
Please, don’t forget to get guidance from your doctor before beginning acupuncture treatment! Complications may arise if you have a specific issue that makes acupuncture unsafe for you and your unborn child.
Your doctor will also refer you to a licensed and extensively-trained acupuncturist, which is essential!
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