Skip Navigation


eCAM Advance Access originally published online on August 17, 2006
eCAM 2007 4(1):125-130; doi:10.1093/ecam/nel053
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrowOA All Versions of this Article:
4/1/125    most recent
nel053v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Qu, F.
Right arrow Articles by Zhou, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Qu, F.
Right arrow Articles by Zhou, J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


© 2006 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commerical use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Electro-Acupuncture in Relieving Labor Pain

Fan Qu and Jue Zhou

Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine Harbin China

To study the efficacy of electro-acupuncture for the relief of labor pain, and to build a better understanding of how electro-acupuncture might influence the neuroendocrine system, 36 primiparas were randomly divided into an electro-acupuncture group and a control group. Assessments of pain intensity and degree of relaxation during labor were analyzed. The differences between the electro-acupuncture group and the control group on the concentration of ß-endorphin (ß-EP) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in the peripheral blood were compared. The electro-acupuncture group was found to exhibit a lower pain intensity and a better degree of relaxation than the control group (p = 0.018; p = 0.031). There existed a significant difference in the concentration of ß-EP and 5-HT in the peripheral blood between the two groups at the end of the first stage (p = 0.037; p = 0.030). Electro-acupuncture was found to be an effective alternative or complementary therapy in the relief of pain during labor. The benefit of electro-acupuncture for relieving labor pain may be based on the mechanism of producing a synergism of the central nervous system (CNS) with a direct impact on the uterus through increasing the release of ß-EP and 5-HT into the peripheral blood.

Keywords: electro-acupuncture – labor pain – ß-endorphin (ß-EP) – 5-hydroxytryptamine(5-HT)

For reprints and all correspondence: Fan Qu, Jue Zhou, Heilongjiang Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower No.78-1 in Yanxing Road, Nangang District, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, 150080 China. Tel: +86-13796069683; Email: qufan43{at}yahoo.com.cn

Received October 12, 2005; accepted July 5, 2006


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Evid Based Complement Alternat MedHome page
K. Okada and K. Kawakita
Analgesic Action of Acupuncture and Moxibustion: A Review of Unique Approaches in Japan
Evid. Based Complement. Altern. Med., August 27, 2007; (2007) nem090v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.