Increased fetal movements – a marker for successful prenatal treatment with acupuncture?

Objective: To evaluate the association between increased fetal movements during prenatal treatment with acupuncture and the duration of labor in order to distinguish between responders and non-responders.

Design: Case-control study.

Setting: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vienna, Austria.

Subjects: Group A consisted of 192 women with increased fetal movements during acupuncture (AP); group B consisted of 76 women with no reaction. During each treatment session, fetal movements were noted by the women with a visual analogue scale. Positive response to AP-treatment was registered when at least three times during four treatment sessions an increased fetal movement was noted.

Results: Median duration of the first stage of labor was 204 min (range 40–495) in group A and 321 min (range 90–685) in group B (P < 0.0001). Median duration of the second stage of labor was 53 min (range 19–165) in group A and 88 minutes (range 10–259) in group B (P < 0.0001).

Conclusion: Our study indicates that increased fetal movements could be a marker for successful prenatal treatment with acupuncture.