Complementary Approaches to Pregnancy

How one mom found relief from headaches and back pain with a complementary approach to her doctor’s care

Acupressure Helped Her During Pregnancy

Tina Buss of Limeport had suffered from migraines for years. She tried medication, but it didn’t help. Then she discovered acupressure and her headaches “just started going away,” she says.

But when Buss became pregnant, her headaches returned and she also experienced lower back pain and nausea. “I was very uncomfortable,” Buss says, “and I was afraid that acupressure would be unsafe during pregnancy.”

She learned differently - she was able to go for treatments every other week until her seventh month of pregnancy. By applying pressure to different muscles, acupressurist Chris Christopher was able to release the lactic acid, tension and stress that caused Buss’s discomfort and allow blood and oxygen into the tissues to aid in healing.

“Acupressure is safe during pregnancy if you don’t press below the knees - that could induce labor,” Christopher says. “And there is no need to press the belly. If you’re having lower back pain, we don’t necessarily have to press on the lower back either. We press muscles that are connected to other muscles that help entire areas relax.”

When Buss began acupressure treatments again, “I didn’t have one migraine during my pregnancy,” she says. “My lower back pain went away, and I was able to sleep better.”

Today, her daughter, Zoe, is seven months old. “I still get acupressure today,” she says. “It not only continues to help my headaches, but eases my lower back from lifting and carrying Zoe. I thought acupressure would be hocus pocus at first, but it actually works.”

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