There are all sorts of theories about how to manage labor pain, but what if it really comes down to something as simple as having a hair comb with you in the delivery room? The doulas at Fox Valley Birth and Baby in Appleton, Wisconsin recently shared a hack that’s almost too simple to believe: squeezing a comb during labor might make contractions easier to bear.
The trick is to hold the comb so that the back of it is across your fingers and the bristles are pressing into your palm at the base of your fingers. “When gripped in your hands, a comb can help hit acupuncture points in your hands. It also plays into the gate control pain theory,” the post notes.
The Gate Theory of Pain proposes that pain is a function of the balance between information traveling into the spinal cord through different nerve fibers, but the brain can only focus on a certain amount of stimulation at once. So, stimulating additional nerve fibers when you’re in pain could lessen the brain’s ability to interpret pain. It’s one of many scientific theories about how the body interprets and processes pain that is included in the curriculum at major medical schools.
Under the umbrella of the Gate Theory, an activity like squeezing a comb could potentially “distract” your brain, thereby lessening other sensations. “Because the nerve endings are closer on your hands, they reach your brain faster, helping your body forget about the contractions,” the doulas at Fox Valley Birth and Baby explain.
The other explanation they offer for the hack is that the comb hits acupuncture points. The science on acupuncture is still limited, but at least one study has shown that acupuncture techniques can help reduce labor pain, though it is not as effective in the end stages of labor. (Let’s be honest, what is effective at that point?)
Whether or not a comb works probably depends on the individual, but more than a few moms noted that they are willing to try. “Maybe I’ll try a comb this time instead of your hand,” one woman jokes, after tagging her partner.
Another person said she sees how this could work because she actually asked her sister to scratch her during labor. “I wanted my sister to dig her nails into my arms when I was in labor because it distracted me from the pain. I think that idea is true. Because it really helped,” she writes.
And several people chimed in to say they had actually tried the trick, or something similar, and had great results. “My doula gave me little plastic hedgehog with sharp spikes to squeeze,” one added. “It was the most helpful thing during the whole labor!”
Women desperate to lessen their labor pains have tried everything from laughing gas to hypnobirthing, and it’s up to each mom-to-be to decide what works for her. But if you’re open to trying new things and looking for some natural pain remedies, it might just be worth it to toss a comb in the delivery go-bag.
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