Epidurals protect key muscles in labour study suggests

www.grub4life.com today reports that having an epidural during labour may protect key muscles and therefore cut the risk of incontinence in later life, a study of nearly 400 women suggests. 30-08-2010

Research in the BJOG, the leading obstetrics journal, found more than one in ten women who had vaginal births suffered damage to the "levator" muscles which hold up internal organs.

A third of those who had a forceps delivery suffered some muscle trauma.

But overall women who had the spinal analgesia ran a lower risk of damage.

With thanks to www.bbc.co.uk
 
To read the full story go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11071881