Description
There have been many discussion on Facebook asking for advice on the points and frequency of treatment for a acupuncture induction treatment. With conflicting information within acupuncture texts, how do practitioners make clinical decisions about when to provide pre-birth treatment and when to induce labour? Debra Betts, Raven Lang, Claudia Citkovitz and Sunita Iyer lead a discussion about making clinical decisions around the use of acupuncture for pre-birth, cervical ripening and 'acupuncture induction' treatments in pregnancy. They will share the latest research and their clinical experience in treating women seeking to avoid a medical induction.
Attend this panel where we will discuss using acupuncture to prepare women for a positive, efficient and safe birth. Plus useful clarification on the medical and legal distinctions between cervical ripening, labor preparation, and induction of labor.
Learning objectives:
- Deepen an understanding of when an acupuncture induction is appropriate
- Improve treatment planning for induction based on TCM pattern differentiation as well as medical complications and risk factors\
- Learn approaches for evaluating success of treatment.
Claudia Citkovitz, PhD, LAc., has led the Acupuncture Service at NYU Lutheran since 2004, supervising 8 acupuncturists who provide inpatient care and clinical instruction in the areas of neurological and orthopedic management, rehabilitation, labor and delivery, pain management. Dr. Citkovitz studied Chinese language in Beijing and acupuncture at the Pacific and Tri-State colleges in New York. An internationally known lecturer on acupuncture practice and research methodology, she lectures regularly for the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine and the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, the University of Westminster in London and the British Acupuncture Council. Her PhD study on acupuncture during acute stroke rehabilitation was the first conducted in the United States, as was her 2006 study of acupuncture during labor and delivery. Dr. Citkovitz is a frequent peer reviewer and Editorial Board member on journals including Acupuncture in Medicine, BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Explore, and Meridians. She is a past member of the NCCAOM’s Task Force on Hospital-Based Acupuncture, the Tri-State College Advisory Board and the Touro College Institutional Review Board, and is currently a Commissioner of the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.
Raven Lang was one of the first homebirth midwives in California. In 1970 she founded the Santa Cruz Birth Center, the first birth center in North America. Two years and fifty births later she wrote Birth Book. In 1972 Raven immigrated to British Columbia, where she helped organize and run the first birth center in B.C. Six years later, she returned to California and founded the Institute of Feminine Arts, the first non-medical school for midwifery in North America.
In 1982 she began her training in TCM and incorporated TCM into her midwifery. For the next three years she apprenticed with Dr. Miriam Lee, a nurse midwife from China and one of the first licensed acupuncturists in California. During her time with Dr. Lee, Raven learned the patterns of Master Tung's Magic Points. From 1982 to 2012 Raven practiced in Santa Cruz, California, specializing in women's medicine and pediatrics. Since 2012, Raven has left her practice and is in semi-retirement. In 2013 she attended a yearlong course in studying the classics, with Dr. Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallee. Presently Raven teaches classes, offers externships, and sits as a board member for Institute of Feminine Arts and Sciences, a newly opened school of midwifery in Santa Rosa, California.
Raven incorporates her knowledge of midwifery, mothering, and traditional medicine (both American and Asian) in her work and brings a wealth of experience to those she serves. She is a dynamic teacher and teaches subjects as diverse as the politics and history of women's health, parenting, the science and art of obstetrics, and pediatrics. Her teaching reaches into the well of life, using poetry, art, politics, mothering, psychology, the medical arts, and unique instructions in the skills of observation.
Raven is a pioneer and those practicing today, treating women with TCM during prenancy, are truly standing on her shoulders.
AWARDS:
Santa Cruz County, WOMEN HELPING WOMEN AWARD. 1985 and 1986.
California Association of Midwives, THE BRAZEN WOMAN AWARD, 1998.
Midwives Alliance of Hawaii, OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT in the ART OF MIDWIFERY, 2001.
ACTCM doctoral program award given for DEDICATION TO THE FIELD AND SCHOLARLY WORK, 2014.
BirthKeepers Summit Award LIVING LEGEND AWARD, 2015
FOUNDING MEMBERSHIPS:
Founder of the SANTA CRUZ BIRTH CENTER 1970
Initial member, teacher, and midwife at THE VANCOUVER FREE CHILDBIRTH ASSOCIATION CENTER, 1973
Founder and Director of THE INSTITUTE OF FEMININE ARTS, the first accredited non-medical school of midwifery in the U.S. 1978
WRITINGS:
Author of BIRTH BOOK, 1972
Chapter on Imprinting, in HOME BIRTH BOOK, Charlotte Ward
Chapter in IMMACULATE DECEPTION, Suzanne Arms, 1975
Chapter The Midwife Question in RECLAIMING BIRTH, HISTORY, AND HEROINES OF AMERICAN CHILDBIRTH REFORM. Margo Edwards and Mary Waldorf, 1984
Journal of American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 1984
Author BLESSINGWAY INTO BIRTH, 1985
The Doula, THE ART OF MIDWIFERY, 1986
THE USE OF TCM IN THE POST PARTUM PERIOD, Journal of American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1987
MOTHER ROASTING, Mothering Magazine, 1987
BLESSINGWAY, A RITUAL FOR MODERN LIFE, Caduceus Magazine, 1998
HIP SANTA CRUZ, Volume 2, 2017