Acupuncture
Research
|
| Paper
Title |
Effects of acupuncture and stabilising
exercises as adjunct to standard treatment in pregnant women with pelvic
girdle pain: randomised single blind controlled trial
|
| Author(s) |
Helen
Elden, Lars Ladfors, Monika Fagevik Olsen, Hans-Christian Ostgaard, Henrik
Hagberg |
| Journal
Reference |
BMJ 2005;330:761-; |
| Background
and Objective |
To
compare the efficacy of standard treatment, standard treatment
plus acupuncture, and standard treatment plus stabilizing exercises
for pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy. |
| Design,
Setting, and Patients |
This
was a randomized single blind controlled trial completed as East Hospital,
Gothenburg, and 27 maternity care centers in Sweden on 386
pregnant women with pelvic girdle pain. |
| Interventions |
Treatment
for six weeks with standard treatment (n = 130), standard
treatment plus acupuncture (n = 125), or standard treatment
plus stabilizing exercises (n = 131). |
| Outcome
Measures |
Primary
outcome measure was pain (visual analogue scale); secondary
outcome measure was assessment of severity of pelvic girdle
pain by an independent examiner before and after treatment. |
| Results |
After
treatment the stabilizing exercise group had less pain than the
standard group in the morning (median difference = 9, 95%
confidence interval 1.7 to 12.8; P = 0.0312) and in the evening
(13, 2.7 to 17.5; P = 0.0245). The acupuncture group, in turn,
had less pain in the evening than the stabilizing exercise group
(-14, -18.1 to -3.3; P = 0.0130). Furthermore, the acupuncture group
had less pain than the standard treatment group in the morning
(12, 5.9 to 17.3; P < 0.001) and in the evening (27, 13.3 to
29.5; P < 0.001). Attenuation of pelvic girdle pain as
assessed by the independent examiner was greatest in the acupuncture
group. |
| Authors'
Conclusions |
Acupuncture
and stabilizing exercises constitute efficient complements to
standard treatment for the management of pelvic girdle pain
during pregnancy. Acupuncture was superior to stabilizing
exercises in this study. |
| Clinical
Significance |
According
to the results of this study, acupuncture demonstrated a large treatment
effect which was superior to pelvic stabilization as a stand alone
treatment for pelvic pain associated with pregnancy and no significant
side effects were noted associated with any of the treatments.
Although acupuncture is demonstrated as an effective treatment for pelvic
girdle pain, education and exercise instruction on pelvic stability would
be a reasonable approach in dealing with the pregnant women experiencing
pelvic pain. |
| NOTE:
The clinical significance review is the opinion of Dr Ken Mueller based
upon the information available at the time of posting. Unauthorized
use of the section on clinical significance is prohibited by Canadian
Copyright. The above research abstract is based on information
posted on the BMJ website. Click
here for full text. For further information, please
refer to the original article utilizing the publication information
provided. January 2, 2005 |
