Urinary retention after childbirth, acupuncture can help.

Women rarely consider that they may have difficulty in passing urine following childbirth, but it is a problem that does occur. Research studies in 1994 indicated that 1.7% - 17% of women did not empty their bladder completely. 5 A small number of women, less than 1%, experience a problem that does not resolve without treatment and results in acute retention.

Do you know acupuncture can help postpartum urinary retention (urinary retention after childbirth)? Recently there was a review that compared the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture with intramuscular injection of neostigmine for postpartum urinary retention. In this paper totally 953 patients with postpartum urinary retention from 15 randomized controlled trials entered the meta-analysis. 12 articles compared the clinical cure rate of acupuncture alone versus intramuscular injection of neostigmine and found the cure rate in the acupuncture group was 2 times that in the neostigmine group (RR, 1.91; 95% CI: 1.66-2.19). 15 articles compared the clinical effectiveness rate of acupuncture alone with that of intramuscular injection of neostigmine and found the clinical effectiveness rate was 28% higher in the acupuncture group than in the neostigmine group (RR: 1.28; 95% CI: 1.16-1.42). No adverse event was reported in the acupuncture group. They concluded that acupuncture alone is more effective in treating postpartum urinary retention than intramuscular injection of neostigmine and it is safe for acupuncture treatment.

References

https://www.ics.org/Documents/DocumentsDownload.aspx?DocumentID=1679

Wang XM Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2018 May 14;2018:2072091. doi: 10.1155/2018/2072091. eCollection 2018.