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Current Pain and Headache Reports
Published in: Current Pain and Headache Reports 2/2016

01-02-2016 | Other Pain (N Vadivelu and A Kaye, Section Editors)

New Labor Pain Treatment Options

Authors: Veerandra Koyyalamudi, Gurleen Sidhu, Elyse M. Cornett, Viet Nguyen, Carmen Labrie-Brown, Charles J. Fox, Alan D. Kaye

Published in: Current Pain and Headache Reports | Issue 2/2016

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Abstract

Presently, the gold standard for pain control in laboring patients is neuraxial blockade, which includes a spinal, epidural, or a combined spinal-epidural technique. In conjunction with neuraxial blockade or by itself, some of the other agents employed related to labor pain include opioids, non-opioids, nitrous oxide, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), and distraction therapy. Alternative treatments include acupuncture, hypnotism, yoga, exercise during pregnancy, hydrotherapy, transcutaneous electronic nerve stimulation, massage, and relaxation techniques. This review will focus on current updates and recent trends in labor pain management. Neuraxial management, pharmacotherapy, and newer alternative methods to mitigate labor pain are reviewed. Newer techniques in epidural analgesia include the dural puncture epidural technique, which needs further evaluation. There are limited published data on the use of acupuncture, hypnotism, yoga, exercise during pregnancy, hydrotherapy, transcutaneous electronic nerve stimulation, massage, and relaxation techniques in the alleviation of labor pain. These alternative therapies maybe considered as an adjuvant as the analgesic efficiency is inferior to that provided by typical standard pharmacotherapy. Future studies are warranted to evaluate the role of immersion virtual reality in alleviating labor pain.
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Metadata
Title
New Labor Pain Treatment Options
Authors
Veerandra Koyyalamudi
Gurleen Sidhu
Elyse M. Cornett
Viet Nguyen
Carmen Labrie-Brown
Charles J. Fox
Alan D. Kaye
Publication date
01-02-2016
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Current Pain and Headache Reports / Issue 2/2016
Print ISSN: 1531-3433
Electronic ISSN: 1534-3081
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-016-0543-2

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