A thousands of years old concept called Qi is loosely translated to “energy” and it moves and flows throughout our body. A surgery of any kind will impact the flow of Qi. Qi blockage is often felt as numbness, tingling and/or pain and often is the answer to the unexplainable sensations in our bodies that modern western medicine reports as normal. So what happens to our flow of qi during and after cesarean birth? And what can be done to heal?
Qi stagnation is a common Chinese medical diagnosis that your acupuncturist might determine. Stagnation can be caused by trauma, overuse, stress, and surgery. If you can imagine a flowing river with a big boulder in the middle of it, causing the water to reroute, this is what happens to our qi when there is a blockage of flow. The solution for long-term relief is to work to slowly and steadily decompose this boulder, while looking up and down stream to prevent any more debris from building up. These rivers of qi occur all over our bodies along lines called meridians. There are 12 regular meridians in the body, though qi can be blocked anywhere in the body. Each of these meridians flows qi within the body and then connects to an internal organ, providing function and health to the organ. The entire meridian is named after the organ it connects and fuels.
Meridians Effected by Cesarean Section
The abdomen includes the meridians of the spleen, stomach, kidney and the conception vessel. The modern horizontal, “bikini” incision for a cesarean section divides through at least the conception vessel, kidney, and stomach channels, and may include the spleen as well. That is a significant number of meridians considering this incision may be as small as 6 inches. The numbness that often accompanies recovery and may last a life time can be explained as the flow of qi has not recovered properly in one or multiple of these meridians. Pain at the surgical site needs to be evaluated by a surgeon post c-section. If the surgeon reports all is well, that’s when we take a look at the health of the qi. We also look at flow of qi in the abdomen when a woman is struggling with fertility. Optimizing qi flow is essential for conception. It is also essential for comfortable and enjoyable intercourse post cesarean section.
How Does Acupuncture Work?
Modern, western medicine wants to know how does acupuncture work and can not see qi or meridians on modern imaging systems. They have recognized acupuncture will speed the recovery post surgery by:
- increasing blood flow to the area of incision
- decreasing pain and numbness through the release of endorphins
- reduces scar tissue via circulation of blood and relaxation of muscles
What Is A Treatment Like?
An acupuncture session post cesarean birth can take place as soon as the woman is comfortable enough to get to the office to receive a treatment. In China, acupuncture is being used during a c-sections for anesthesia (along with pharmaceutical anesthesia) and post operatively immediately after surgery. The sooner the acupuncture can be administered the better.
That said, women still have numbness in the surgical site many years after the birth that can be recovered with acupuncture.
The acupuncture treatment requires small, stainless steel needles both at the surgical site and along the meridians, most likely on the legs and hands. The ear is also an area that may be used in treatment as it is a model, or micro system, of the whole body and can treat the surgical site as well. Adjunctive therapies such as moxibustion may be incorporated as well, which provides heat via burning the herb mugwort to speed up healing. Needles are retained for 20-40 minutes during which time mom may nap and deeply relax. The amount of treatments requires varies depending on the severity of the incision and the ability of the patient to rest and heal.
Preparing for VBAC
Women preparing for VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) can greatly benefit from using acupuncture to prepare for a subsequent pregnancy and birth. The best time to use acupuncture is prior to becoming pregnant again, which allows the
acupuncturists to most effectively treat the uterus and break down scar tissue. Once pregnant, there are benefits to using acupuncture to prepare for VBAC as well. Moxibustion has been proven to turn a breech positioned baby and to optimize baby’s position (breech or posterior) to avoid cesarean section and is helpful in the third trimester.
It is also helpful to see an acupuncturist to prepare for the planned cesarean. An acupuncturist can put small, stainless steel ear balls tapped to the outside of your ear. Check with your surgeon, it should be no problem to have these ear seeds on your ears during surgery to allow for a more rapid recovery.
Trauma Recovery From Cesarean Section
Acupuncture is also useful for the emotional health of recovering for cesarean birth. Many women hope to avoid surgical interventions with birth. Whether the surgery was planned prior to labor or occurred after days of laboring, women can experience a range of deep emotions after a c-section. Along the midline of the front of the body is a meridian called the conception vessel, one of the extra meridians of the body, while along the midline down the spine in the governing vessel. The conception vessel is said to originate in the uterus in women.
According to Li Shi-zhen “The conception vessel and the governing vessel are like midnight and midday, they are the polar axis of the body…there is one source and two branches, one goes to the front and the other to the back of the body…When we try to divide these, we see that yin and yang are inseparable. When we try to see them as one, we see that it is an indivisible whole.”
When we consider a surgical procedure to the uterus, dividing these essential vessels, it makes sense why women may feel “not whole” afterwards. Talk therapy can be essential and medication necessary for some women, acupuncture can also be a vital adjunct to healing the emotional response post cesarean birth. Acupuncturists work to regain balance of the essential meridians, and allow the mother to feel whole again.
Effects of acupuncture on post-cesarean section pain. (Pubmed)
Acupuncture Pain Relief After C-section (HealthCMi)
