Manipulative and Body-based Complementary/Alternative Methods in Labor

Childbirth is a natural and a physiological fact which has a very important place in the life of women. However nowadays, giving a birth is perceived as a frightening and a complicated process by women because of the uncertainties in the process like progression of birth,form of birth and the increasing pharmacological interventions. Women are passivated during childbirth and their anxiety increase with these increasing pharmacological interventions. In this case, the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) methods, which affects the naturalness of birth at a minimum level, supports the birth and actively engages the woman to childbirth, may be preferred. In recent years, the interest and the usage rates for complementary and alternative methods have been increasing steadily. Manipulative and body-based methods are mostly used among the CAM methods in the birth process. In this article, manipulative and body-based methods such as reflexology, massage, hydrotherapy, acupressure and chiropractic are reviewed, and their usage and effects in the birth process are examined in the light of the literature