Event description

A one-day seminar focusing on pregnancy in detail and looking at obstetric ‘red flags’ with Sarah Budd at the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine, Reading.

There are many conditions in pregnancy which acupuncture can help. Women instinctively tend to avoid taking medication when pregnant, and with little else on offer, acupuncture can provide safe, effective, and very welcome treatment. Unfortunately, there are some conditions which can be dangerous for mother and baby, and it is important to be aware of these.

This seminar is aimed at practitioners who are interested in, or already involved with, treating women in pregnancy. It assumes existing knowledge of the treatment with acupuncture of common complaints of pregnancy such as sickness and backache, taught at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. We will go a step further, looking at normal pregnancy in more detail and discussing the more serious obstetric complications such as severe pre-eclampsia so that practitioners are familiar with these should a patient present with them. Recognising when to refer back to midwifery or medical staff can be crucial – even life-saving in some cases.

Topics for the day

Physiological changes in pregnancy, effects on organs • Hyperemesis gravidarum • Bleeding in pregnancy • Urinary symptoms • Abdominal pain • Placenta previa • Hypertensive diseases, pre-eclampsia and eclampsia • Cholestasis • Premature labour • Malpresentation, breech and other abnormal positions • Labour induction procedures • Complications in labour

There will be an informal opportunity to see videos of a home birth and a water birth (no acupuncture involved!) and an entertaining video of a caesarean section performed under acupuncture anaesthesia from 1970s China.

Sarah Budd has a background as a midwifery sister and subsequently trained as an acupuncturist in London and China. She set up an acupuncture service in Plymouth Maternity Unit in 1988, then completed a degree in complementary health studies at Exeter University. In 1991, she won a Churchill Fellowship, and went to China again to study acupuncture anaesthesia. She was given the first and only full-time post as acupuncturist midwife in the UK, then had a family, and now works one day per week in Plymouth, and privately at home. Over 6,000 pregnant women have been treated with acupuncture on the NHS in Plymouth, and the service was joint winner of the Prince of Wales’ Foundation for Integrated Health Award in 2001. Sarah worked as a research assistant to Mark Bovey at ARRC and is current chair of the ARRC management committee. She has contributed to text books, books and journals and continues to teach in colleges and universities.

Course fee

£70 Refunds cannot be made unless at least two weeks notice is given.

Parking and rail travel

Parking is available at the Oracle shopping centre nearby. There is no car parking available at the College. We are a short walk from Reading railway station, at 19 Castle Street. Click here for directions and a map.

Course administration

0118 950 8880