Battlefield acupuncture for post-partum pain: A randomized controlled trial

Postpartum pain affects quality of life. Clinicians are increasingly using acupuncture for management of pain. Evidence based strategies that incorporate acupuncture for postpartum pain are lacking.

We performed an exploratory, randomized clinical trial of Battlefield Auricular Acupuncture (BFA) plus standard analgesia versus standard analgesia alone for reduction of pain in the immediate postpartum period.

The mean time to 50% sustained reduction of initial pain in the standard analgesia group (n = 33) was 6 days compared to 5 days in the standard analgesia plus BFA (n = 37) group (p = 0.35). The mean total morphine equivalent units (MEUs) in the standard group compared to standard plus BFA group were 88 mg and 82 mg respectively (p = 0.45).

This exploratory comparison suggests that BFA may not provide additional benefit to standard analgesia for immediate postpartum pain; however, the trend toward faster reduction in pain indicates that a larger definitive study may be required.