Treatments of pelvic girdle pain in pregnant women: adverse effects of standard treatment, acupuncture and stabilising exercises on the pregnancy, mother, delivery and the fetus/neonate

Table 5 Participants opinions of the treatment

Outcomes
	Standard group (n = 100)	Acupuncture group (n = 108)	Stabilizing exercise group (n = 111)	P-value
No help of treatment	25 (25)	4 (4)	2 (2)	S-ACU	< 0.001
				SE-S	< 0.001
				ACU-SE	NS
Some help of treatment	53 (53)	21 (19)	28 (25)	S-ACU	< 0.001
				SE-S	< 0.001
				ACU-SE	NS
Good help of treatment	14 (14)	37 (34)	38 (34)	S-ACU	< 0.001
				SE-S	< 0.001
				ACU-SE	NS
Very good help of treatment	8 (8)	46 (43)	43 (39)	S-ACU	< 0.001
				SE-S	< 0.001
				ACU-SE	NS
Experienced harm of treatment	51 (51)	43 (40)	22 (20)	S-ACU	0.674
				S-SE	<0.001
				ACU-SE	<0.001
Painful treatment	1 (1)	27 (24)	3 (3)	S-ACU	<0.001
				S-SE	NS
				ACU-SE	<0.001
Treatment not enough	13 (13)	0	3 (2)	S-ACU	<0.001
				S-SE	0.014
				ACU-SE	NS
Difficult to exercise at home	24 (24)	0	5 (4)	S-ACU	<0.001
				S-SE	<0.001
				ACU-SE	NS
Syncope	0	9 (8)	0	All groups	NS
Drowsiness after treatment	0	9 (8)	0	S-ACU	0.011
				ACU-SE	0.004
Did not relieve pain	3 (3)	2 (2)	5 (4)	All groups	NS
Pelvic belt uncomfortable	5 (5)	0	0	S-ACU	NS
				S-SE	NS
Treatment unpleasant	0	7 (6)	0	S-ACU	0.020
				ACU-SE	0.044
Time consuming	7 (7)	5 (4)	4 (3)	S-ACU	NS
				S-SE	NS
				ACU-SE	NS
Would choose the same treatment again	69 (69)	98 (93)	106 (95)	S-ACU	<0.001
				S-SE	<0.001
				ACU-SE	NS

S, standard treatment; ACU, acupuncture plus standard treatment; SE, stabilizing exercises plus standard treatment
Numbers reported with percentage of group
§Numbers reported with percentage of group.
±Mean scores are reported with standard deviations.
Data were tested for significance with Fischer's exact test. Adjustments (multiplication by three) of the p-values due to multiple comparisons were performed by Bonferroni's method. NS = Not significant.