But midwives and mothers-to-be in Walsall have found an alternative, and altogether more relaxing, way to bring on labour.
The secret, discovered by experts at Walsall Manor Hospital, is through pressure points in the feet. The maternity unit at the Pleck Road hospital undertook a study of 100 overdue women, offering some of them one free reflexology treatment on their feet.
It discovered that more women went into labour sooner and needing less pain relief than those without reflexology, which involves applying pressure to various points on the hands and feet through specific thumb and finger techniques.
The research was conducted by a team led by supervisor of midwives Lin Gostling and is set to been the first of its kind published since 1989, opening the door for more funding to carry out more extensive research on the subject.
The team included midwives Leanne York, Caroline Ranford and Anna Yepes, who were already qualified reflexologists, and consultant Sushma Sharma.
The results of their study show that, overall, the length of the first stage of labour was four hours shorter than of those in the control group of women who had not had reflexology and that the second stage of labour, when the woman starts to push, was 21 minutes shorter.
They also found that fewer women in the reflexology group needed strong pain relief during labour.
http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2010/12/15/hands-on-method-to-give-baby-a-head-start/
