Acupuncture has been shown in several clinical trials to be a safe and effective way of relieving pregnancy related back pain.

A study published in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica looked at pelvic and low back pain in pregnant women, and concluded that acupuncture it is a safe and effective method of reducing pain without producing any serious side-effects.

In the study, 72 pregnant women with pelvic or low back pain were randomized, during weeks 24-37 of their pregnancies, to either an acupuncture group or a control group. Women in the acupuncture group received needling at traditional acupuncture points and “local tender points” based on their individual pain patterns, and were treated once or twice a week until the child was delivered. Women in the control group were given no stimulation.

Throughout the study, patients in both groups were asked to rate their pain weekly on a visual analog scale, and to rate their pain on a three-point scale during various activities.

Over time, visual analog pain intensity scores decreased in 60 percent of the women given acupuncture, but in only 14 percent of the women in the control group. Additionally, 43 percent of the acupuncture patients reported a decrease in pain during activity, compared with only 9 percent of the control patients.

No serious adverse effects were observed in the women receiving acupuncture, and no adverse effects of any kind were noticed in the babies born to women in the acupuncture group.

Kvorning N, Holmberg C, Grennert L, et al. Acupuncture relieves pelvic and low-back pain in late pregnancy. Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, March 2004;83(3):246-50.