Nursing Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Nursing, including details on health care, hospital staff, professional care.

Clinical implications from an exploratory study of postural management of breech presentation.

Founds SA

Department of Health Promotion and Development, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA. foundss@pitt.edu

The results from an exploratory study of the effectiveness of maternal knee-chest posture for producing cephalic version of breech presentation are shown. Methods are briefly described and clinical implications are presented. Among 25 women, fewer who performed the maternal knee-chest postural intervention experienced fetal cephalic version than women in the control group who did nothing to influence breech presentation. Despite limitations of the underpowered findings, trends in the data may indicate that parity and gestational age were potentially relevant covariates of version. Postural management is not an evidence-based practice. This exploratory study indicates that maternal knee-chest posture may work opposite to the expected direction, but the small sample size precludes generalizations about efficacy of knee-chest postural management. At least one adequately powered trial that controls for parity and gestational age is needed to determine whether knee-chest postural management results in no effect, a small, or small to moderate clinically significant effect.

Published 3 July 2006 in J Midwifery Womens Health, 51(4): 292-6.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Nursing Research Today. All Rights Reserved.