When you are in ninth month of pregnancy, you will be waiting for the baby to born. There are many methods to encourage your labor with less pain.
Some of the methods are however risky. A natural way to encourage labor is acupressure and it is called as labor acupressure.
Labor acupressure is a natural way to encourage labor in women who are waiting for their delivery. It reduces pain related to the labor and for helping to speed up the delivery process.
Labor acupressure is almost similar to acupuncture, but this process uses only thumbs and fingers rather than needles that are used in acupuncture.
It means points for labor are similar for acupressure and acupuncture, but the way of stimulating the points differ.
Acupressure is safe and easy way with no side effects. Inducing labor with acupressure is a natural way for helping the cervix to ripen and dilate. Inducing labor in this way is safe for both mother and baby.
You can perform it on your own or ask your partner to do it. Medications are also used for inducing labor, but they force your body to start labor. On the other side, acupressure encourages your body for contractions to happen naturally.
Points that are associated with acupressure labor are adjoining valley, shoulder well, and big and high.
Labor acupressure points:
Adjoining valley: This point is used to stimulate the meridian of large intestine. For applying acupressure, locate the area between forefinger and thumb. This area is known as webbing. Press firmly in this area and you feel tender if area is correct. Adjoining valley point is also useful when you are in labor room.
Shoulder well: This point is also useful during delivery. The pressure is applied to the area where the shoulder muscle is at its highest point. The point is measured using four finger widths from your shoulder joint approximately, towards your neck. This point at the shoulder is tender of all the other points. This point is helpful to manage pain during delivery.
Big and high: This point is situated straight above the back of your heel. It helps your baby for descending down toward the pelvis. The point is exactly located between your ankle and Achilles tendon. Applying pressure at this point directly gives most benefits.
Acupressure has worked for many women during labor and it is a natural method for encouraging labor. But, this method is used when you are at full term.
