Content area
Full Text
Although the first epidurals date back to the 1850s, it was nearly a century later before they were used in childbirth. Steve Ainsworth takes a look at their history.
According to the King James Bible, God said to Eve: 'I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children' (Genesis 3:16).
In the latest Holy Bible, New International Version, that verse has become: 'I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labour you will give birth to children' (Genesis 3:16).
Whether written in ancient Hebrew, 17th century English or the language of the 21st century, the message is still exactly the same: 'Childbirth is going to hurt you a lot.'
Yet thanks to modern anaesthetic techniques, childbirth today need not hurt mothers anywhere near as badly as the pains endured by their foremothers.
One of the greatest advances in anaesthesia was arguably the development of the 'epidural'.
Today, epidurals have been routinely used for many years and are widely accepted as an effective method of providing pain relief after surgery and during labour and childbirth.
But what exactly is an epidural? How does it work? And who was the first person reckless enough to volunteer to have a needle thrust into their spine with all the presumed attendant risk of suffering permanent paralysis?
Although the first epidurals were conceived and tried in 1853, it was not until halfway through the 20th century that epidurals were used in childbirth (Hingson and Edwards, 1943).
In the past, it is often said, many churchmen thought that any pain relief in childbirth bordered on blasphemy because it countered the word of...