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Should Women Walk During Labor?

How best to manage pregnant women in labor has been a question for centuries. This study asked whether walking influences the length or outcome of active labor.

Women at term with uncomplicated pregnancies, regular uterine contractions, cervical dilatation of 3 to 5 cm, and fetuses in the cephalic presentation were randomly assigned to confinement to a labor bed (usual-care group, n=531) or walking as desired during the first stage of labor (walking group, n=536). Only about 75 percent of the walking group actually walked. The groups did not differ significantly with respect to duration of the first stage of labor, need for labor augmentation with oxytocin, use of analgesia, percent delivered by forceps or cesarean section, or infant outcome.

Comment: This large, randomized trial seems to end the need to confine most women to a labor bed. However, as editorialists note, confounding factors were not controlled for, including the presence of a support person for women in the walking group. Still, the effort to systematically study procedures about which many physicians hold strong views is commendable.

— RW Rebar

Published in Journal Watch General Medicine July 24, 1998

Citation(s):

Bloom SL et al. Lack of effect of walking on labor and delivery. N Engl J Med 1998 Jul 9 339 76-79.

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• Medline abstract (Free)

Cefalo RC and Bowes WA Jr. Managing labor -- Never walk alone. N Engl J Med 1998 Jul 9 339 117-118.

• Original article (Subscription may be required)
• Medline abstract (Free)