Double Hip Squeeze
Home Up Search

 

 

This technique I learned from an incredible doula and monitrice, Polly Perez. The information is taken from her book Nurturing Touch at Birth: A Labor Support Handbook, page 58.

"Another support strategy helpful for those experiencing back labour is the double hip squeeze. This approach is tricky to learn but is well worth the effort as mothers find it mediates the pain of back labour very effectively. The technique is demonstrated in the video Comfort Measures in Childbirth by Penny Simkin and Special Women: How a Labor Assistant Makes Birth Safer, More Satisfying and Less Costly with Paulina Perez, RN. The technique is as follows:

Locate the mother's iliac crest on each side. Mentally picture a V from the crests to the coccyx.  The spots for hand placement are below and outside the midline of each side of the V. Press in and upward at those spots during a contraction. Ask the mother how much pressure is best.

An alternative is to press directly on the iliac crests in the same up and inward motion. Try both techniques and use the one mother feels is best for her. This technique can be tiring to the person doing it but is ever so helpful to the mother. Teri Williams has modified this technique in the following manner.

With the mother on her hands and knees of the floor, straddle your legs over her. With your legs on either side of the mother push inward and forward with your knees as you put pressure on her lower back with your hands."

Copyright © 1997-2007 Mother Care. All photos © Mother Care & Terri McKinney Photography. All rights reserved.