PRIMARY CARE

Effects of acupuncture and stabilising exercises as adjunct to standard treatment in pregnant women with pelvic girdle pain: randomised single blind controlled trial

¹ Perinatal Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Institute for the Health of Women and Children, Sahlgrenska Academy, East Hospital, 41685 Gothenburg, Sweden
² Department of Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy, Sahlgrenska Academy, Sahlgrenska Hospital, Gothenburg
³ Department of Orthopedics, Sahlgrenska Academy, Molndal Hospital, Molndal, Sweden

Objectives To compare the efficacy of standard treatment, standard treatment plus acupuncture, and standard treatment plus stabilising exercises for pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy.

Design Randomised single blind controlled trial.

Settings East Hospital, Gothenburg, and 27 maternity care centres in Sweden.

Participants 386 pregnant women with pelvic girdle pain.

Interventions Treatment for six weeks with standard treatment (n=130), standard treatment plus acupuncture (n= 125), or standard treatment plus stabilising exercises (n= 131).

Main outcome measures Primary outcome measure was pain (visual analogue scale); secondary outcome measure was assessment of severity of pelvic girdle pain by an independent examiner before and after treatment.

Results After treatment the stabilising exercise group had less pain than the standard group in the morning (median difference=9, 95% confidence interval 1.7 to 12.8; P=0.0312) and in the evening (13, 2.7 to 17.5; P=0.0245). The acupuncture group, in turn, had less pain in the evening than the stabilising exercise group (-14, -18.1 to -3.3; P=0.0130). Furthermore, the acupuncture group had less pain than the standard treatment group in the morning (12, 5.9 to 17.3; P<0.001) and in the evening (27, 13.3 to 29.5; P<0.001). Attenuation of pelvic girdle pain as assessed by the independent examiner was greatest in the acupuncture group.

Conclusion Acupuncture and stabilising exercises constitute efficient complements to standard treatment for the management of pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy. Acupuncture was superior to stabilising exercises in this study.