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Acupuncture for breech birth, acupuncture to turn a breech baby

Acupuncture for breech presentation:


A baby will generally settle into a cephalic -head down – position by week 34/36 of pregnancy. When the baby is head up, this is referred to as a breech position. An estimated 3.5% of the babies that are born are in breech presentation just before delivery. Sometimes, an obstetrician will try to turn the baby in the womb. This is often an uncomfortable procedure for the expectant mother.
About 80% of the women with a baby in breech presentation will ultimately have a caesarean operation.
Most of those women would rather experience a natural delivery. For that reason, many of them try a special technique of Chinese medicine: warming and heating Acupuncture point, BL67  which is situated on the little toe.This helps to stimulate the baby to move whilst at the same time relaxing the uterine muscles, encouraging the baby to turn. 
The treatment is done twice a week until the baby turn, often one treatment only is needed This is a special technique, using moxibustion on a point on the 5th toe that can turn a breech baby into the right position. It works best before 36 weeks, although I have had some success turning breech babies at 37 and 38 weeks. Beyond 37 weeks, the baby is now too big to turn completely, but at 33 or 37 weeks there is still enough room to move

Habek D, Čerkez Habek J, Jagušt M
Abstract
Fetal Diagn Ther 2003;18:418–421 (DOI: 10.1159/000073135
Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the value of acupuncture (AP) in the conversion of fetal breech presentation into vertex presentation. Patients and Methods: A randomized prospective controlled clinical study included 67 pregnant women with fetal breech presentation: 34 women with singleton pregnancies treated with manual AP (urinary bladder 67, Zhiyin) and a control group which included 33 women with singleton pregnancies without AP treatment. The AP treatment lasted 30 min a day, and was conducted during and after 34 weeks of pregnancy with simultaneous cardiotocography. Results: The success rate of the AP correction of fetal breech presentation is 76.4% (26 women), and spontaneous conversion without AP in vertex presentation is observed in 15 women (45.4%; p < 0.001). Conclusions: We believe that AP correction of fetal malpresentation is a relatively simple, efficacious and inexpensive method associated with a lower percentage of operatively completed deliveries, which definitely reflects in improved parameters of vital and perinatal statistics.
Acupuncture Conversion of Fetal Breech Presentation

Cost-effectiveness of breech version by acupuncture-type interventions on BL 67, including moxibustion, for women with a breech foetus at 33 weeks gestation: a modelling approach.
van den Berg I, Kaandorp GC, Bosch JL, Duvekot JJ, Arends LR, Hunink MG.
Source
Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. ineke.vandenberg@erasmusmc.nl
Abstract
OBJECTIVES:
To assess, using a modelling approach, the effectiveness and costs of breech version with acupuncture-type interventions on BL67 (BVA-T), including moxibustion, compared to expectant management for women with a foetal breech presentation at 33 weeks gestation.
DESIGN:
A decision tree was developed to predict the number of caesarean sections prevented by BVA-T compared to expectant management to rectify breech presentation. The model accounted for external cephalic versions (ECV), treatment compliance, and costs for 10,000 simulated breech presentations at 33 weeks gestational age. Event rates were taken from Dutch population data and the international literature, and the relative effectiveness of BVA-T was based on a specific meta-analysis. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to evaluate the robustness of the results.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
We calculated percentages of breech presentations at term, caesarean sections, and costs from the third-party payer perspective. Odds ratios (OR) and cost differences of BVA-T versus expectant management were calculated. (Probabilistic) sensitivity analysis and expected value of perfect information analysis were performed.
RESULTS:
The simulated outcomes demonstrated 32% breech presentations after BVA-T versus 53% with expectant management (OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.43, 0.83). The percentage caesarean section was 37% after BVA-T versus 50% with expectant management (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.59, 0.88). The mean cost-savings per woman was euro 451 (95% CI euro 109, euro 775; p=0.005) using moxibustion. Sensitivity analysis showed that if 16% or more of women offered moxibustion complied, it was more effective and less costly than expectant management. To prevent one caesarean section, 7 women had to use BVA-T. The expected value of perfect information from further research was euro0.32 per woman.
CONCLUSIONS:
The results suggest that offering BVA-T to women with a breech foetus at 33 weeks gestation reduces the number of breech presentations at term, thus reducing the number of caesarean sections, and is cost-effective compared to expectant management, including external cephalic version.
Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pj Cousin is a full member of the British Acupuncture Council and of the Unified Register of herbal Practitioners

Acupuncture at Cure by Nature
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Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
is one of the oldest and most mysterious form of health care, the first book on this subject is about 2500 years old, and there are indications that the Chinese were already using a crude form of TCM 4000 years ago.
Today, this medical system is widely used in China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea and all around Asia; in China alone there are 2500 hospitals specialising in TCM. This complex medical system is taught in 30 Chinese universities, to thousands of students from 120 different countries.

Acupuncture at Cure By Nature
95 Replingham Road
London SW18 5LU

tel: 020 88751101

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Appointment available Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays



Acupuncture London: fertility clinics of acupuncture and complementary medicine at 95 Replingham Road london SW18 5LU