
Myths and Facts About Acupuncture and Pregnancy

Congratulations — your journey toward building the family of your dreams is underway! As you prepare for your baby and learn all that you can about the dos and don’ts of pregnancy, we wanted to weigh in on the potentially valuable role that acupuncture can play.
The team of licensed acupuncturists here at Family Wellness Acupuncture has extensive experience helping our clients better navigate their health and their lives through acupuncture, and we can do the same for your pregnancy.
In the following, we explore some of the myths and facts about acupuncture and pregnancy.
Is acupuncture safe?
Once your doctor confirms your pregnancy, you’re handed what seems like an impossibly long list of best practices and things to avoid. From deli meats to exercise, there seems to be a rule of thumb for just about every aspect of your life when you’re pregnant — all of which are designed to protect your baby’s health, as well as your own.
When it comes to acupuncture, we can assure you that you have everything to gain from the practice as the risks are minimal to nonexistent. In fact, one report analyzed the findings of 105 studies on acupuncture and pregnancy and found that, “Acupuncture during pregnancy appears to be associated with few adverse effects when correctly applied.”
We’re going to go a step further and suggest that acupuncture may be one of the safer treatments you can undergo during pregnancy as it isn’t interventional or pharmacological — two practices that carry more risk.
How can acupuncture help?
The applications of acupuncture during your pregnancy are almost without limit and include addressing:
- Nausea and vomiting (morning sickness)
- Back and pelvic pain
- Breast tenderness
- Fatigue
- Headaches
- Gastrointestinal issues, such as heartburn and constipation
- Anxiety and depression
- Labor induction
- Labor pain
- Pain after delivery
As you can see, we can use acupuncture during every stage of your pregnancy, and afterward, to help make your family-building journey an easier one.
The mechanism behind acupuncture
To help you better understand how acupuncture can improve your health, let’s take a look at how it works. With acupuncture, we insert very thin needles into precise points along your meridians to improve your qi (or energy).
Many of the human body’s ailments occur when this flow is disrupted or blocked. Our goal through acupuncture is to restore your flow of energy to improve function on almost every level.
As we mentioned, the needles are very thin, and most of our patients feel nothing when we insert them.
How often can you use acupuncture
Since acupuncture is considered a safe therapy, you can come see us as often as you need to keep your pregnancy going smoothly.
In fact, many women use acupuncture as a preventive measure so that they can avoid some of the potential discomfort and health issues that can crop up during a pregnancy.
To get a better idea about how acupuncture can help your pregnancy and what sort of timeline is best, please contact our office in Irvine, California, to set up a consultation.
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