The Treatment of Threatened Miscarriage with Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine

Miscarriage is the most common complication of early pregnancy. Many traditional East Asian medicine (TEAM) practitioners provide fertility support treatments and are therefore likely to encounter patients who experience threatened miscarriage, or ‘restless foetus’ (tai dong bu an) as it is known in TEAM. From a TEAM perspective, this condition can arise from a variety of deficiency, excess or mixed patterns. This article explores the biomedical and TEAM understandings of threatened miscarriage, along with pattern differentiation and treatment options using acupuncture and herbal medicine to promote healthy pregnancy.