Health and Science Story

22 November 2008 19:52 BST

Acupuncture can help treating pelvic girdle pain

Acupuncture can help in treating women who suffer from pelvic girdle pain (PGP), a study has found.

The report published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology today found that women who received acupuncture treatment were more able to take part in routine activities and were more able to engage in regular work than those who didn't received the treatment.

Around 20 per cent of pregnant women report suffering from PGP, a condition where pain is felt in the buttocks and sometimes accompanied by pain the anterior pelvis.

The pain is usually made worse by prolonged standing, sitting or turning in bed.

In some seven per cent of women, the condition continues after pregnancy and can be so severe as to prevent women returning to work and make even the easiest of physical tasks difficult.

"This study shows that acupuncture had no superior effect compared with non-penetrating sham acupuncture on pain relief but improved women's functional ability to perform daily activities," co-author Dr Helen Elden, from the Institute of Clinical Sciences at the Sahlgrenska Academy in Göteborg, Sweden, said.

"We therefore believe that the data suggests that needle penetration, at least to some degree, is one important component in acupuncture therapy and provides additional support for the use of acupuncture as one of several means of treatment of PGP in pregnant women."

Professor Philip Steer, BJOG editor-in-chief, added: "Complementary therapies like acupuncture may help relieve certain types of pain but their efficacy remains to be proven and more research is needed.

"For some women the hope of pain relief is enough reason for them to undergo alternative treatments. The results of this study are encouraging as it shows that acupuncture could improve the lives of women with PGP.

"However, women should consult their doctors and midwives and not abandon traditional medicine."