Case Study: “ How to turn breech babies with moxa and acupuncture
Patient: 39 years old female
She came to our clinic first time in February 2022. At that time she wanted to get pregnant, and within less than a year she was able to get pregnant naturally. She received acupuncture almost weekly during her pregnancy for morning sickness, acid reflux, and some lower back pain. When she was at 36 weeks, she was told that the baby was in breech position.
Feb. 7th, 2023 The next week at week 37, she came to the clinic. She was experiencing some right-sided hip pain due to baby pushing, her pulse was slippery and rapid.
Set 1: Du24, R gb34, and L sj5 were needled.
Set2: B ub67 was needled and rice grain moxa was added.
Feb. 8th, 2023 The next day patient came in with her husband, moxa sticks were applied to both UB 67 points to show her husband how to do it at home. She and her husband got a few moxa sticks after the treatment and he did moxibustion on both sides of ub67 twice a day for 10 minutes each side.
Patient came in again on the 15th, 38.5 weeks pregnant, she happily told us that the baby turned on her own. The patient was able to have a vaginal birth, giving birth to a healthy baby girl at week 40.
You can read our patient’s testimonial about it :
“At our 36-week prenatal doctor appointment, we were told that our baby was in the breech position. I was so upset about having to need surgery to deliver my baby. Fortunately, my doula told us about the success of her other clients who had used moxibustion. Dr. Ozben was so knowledgeable and skilled at this procedure. She taught my husband and me how to perform the procedure at home and the next week at our ECV appointment we were told that our baby had turned on her own and I ended up having a beautiful vaginal birth. I will be forever grateful to Dr. Ozben for sharing her knowledge and beautiful supportive energy with us as we navigated through uncertain times in our pregnancy."
If you’d like to purchase our online podia course to learn more about it, please click here.
There have been a few studies conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of moxibustion for turning breech babies. Here are a couple of notable studies :
1 Cardini, F., & Weixin, H. (1998). Moxibustion for correction of breech presentation: A randomized controlled trial. JAMA, 280(18), 1580-1584. doi:10.1001/jama.280.18.1580
This study, published in JAMA, involved 260 pregnant women with breech presentations. The participants were randomly assigned to receive moxibustion or no treatment. The study found that the success rate of turning the breech presentation to a head-down position was significantly higher in the moxibustion group (75.4%) compared to the control group (47.7%).
2 Vas J., Aranda-Regules, J. M., Modesto, M., et al. (2013). Using moxibustion in primary healthcare to correct non-vertex presentation: A multicentre randomized controlled trial. Acupuncture in Medicine, 31(1), 31-38. doi:10.1136/acupmed-2012-010227
This multicenter randomized controlled trial involved 406 pregnant women with breech presentations. The participants were divided into three groups: moxibustion, moxibustion plus usual care, and usual care alone. The study found that the success rate of converting the breech presentation to a head-down position was higher in both moxibustion groups compared to the usual care alone group.
