Nursing, Maternal Postures, and Fetal Position

Abdominal palpation to determine fetal position at labor onset: a test accuracy study

“…It could also be possible that although abdominal palpation has been recommended for more than a century as a method for determining fetal position, its performance has never been seriously assessed and it has evolved into a ‘secular truth’. Recommendations drawn by a Cochrane review on the use of hands and knees posturing in late pregnancy and labor for fetal malposition (33) could be viewed as questionable, as in two of the three trials (15,16), abdominal palpation was used to identify fetal position. The findings from our study show that abdominal palpation as a means of identifying the LOA position is inaccurate; this affects the interpretation of results and conclusions from any study that has been based on this method alone for determining the LOA position.…”

Maternal Posture for Cephalic Version of Breech Presentation: A Review of the Evidence

“…Each study was abstracted into a table to evaluate logical flow and consistency among the following elements: (1) problem statement, (2) review of literature, (3) theory or framework, (4) hypotheses, (5) sample, (6) recruitment protocol, (7) variables, (8) data collection, (9) data analysis, and (10) findings. These data were synthesized for analysis of quality within and between all studies using guidelines from the third United States Preventive Services Task Force (12).…”

“…Maternal posture is an obstetric intervention using the pregnant mother's position to change the position or presentation of the infant in utero (1,2). Sometimes called “postural management”(2,3), maternal posture has been suggested as a means to promote cephalic version of breech presentation during third trimester pregnancy, thereby reducing the incidence of breech, a malpresentation (4,5).…”

Diagnosis and Intervention for Occiput Posterior Malposition

“…The remaining integration of evidence will focus on the role of a noninvasive intervention, maternal posturing, in successfully rotating the fetus from OP to OA during late pregnancy and early intrapartum (see Table 4). Five studies were reviewed comparing the effects of maternal posture, such as hands‐and‐knees or left or right Sims’ (lateral recumbent), on fetal rotation from OP to OA during pregnancy (Andrews & Andrews, 1983; Kariminia, Chamberlain, Keogh, & Shea, 2004; Ou, Chen, & Su, 1997; Stremler et al, 2005; Wu, Fan, & Wang, 2001). All studies were RCTs.…”