Benefícios da verticalização do parto

Abstract

There are several historical findings that confirm that childbirth, in antiquity, was performed in an upright position. However, over time, social, scientific, cultural and religious aspects have changed the vertical way of giving birth. Gradually, the birth chairs fell into disuse, giving way to the birth in a horizontal position. However, it has been proven that the verticalization of childbirth has in itself intrinsic advantages that increasingly weaken the practice of childbirth in a horizontal position. As methodology, an integrative literature review of articles published in the years 2017-2020, in Portuguese and English, available in the Medline (n = 236), CINAHL (n = 163) and B-On (n = 244) databases, following the PICOD strategy. In December 2020, the survey was conducted using the Boolean search term “Delivery, Obstetric” [Mesh]) AND “Patient Positioning” [Mesh] OR (“Delivery, Obstetric” [Mesh] AND upright) OR (upright labor positioning) OR (Vertical [Title] OR upright [Title]) AND (childbirth [Title] OR labor [Title]), in full text and open access, of qualitative, quantitative, randomized controlled studies (RCT), reviews and clinical trials (Inclusion criteria). Research that resulted in only abstracts, conference presentations or magazine articles without peer review was not considered. Based on the research method, 10 articles were selected, where the following main results emerged: verticalization of childbirth has benefits caused by the action of gravity, favors fetal well-being, improves uterine dynamics and fetal statics, decreases the duration of labor, decreases the incidence of episiotomy, increases pelvic diameters and provides psycho-affective benefits to the parturient woman. Based on the different studies, it is concluded that giving birth in an upright position benefits the parturient and the fetus due to physiological and biomechanical factors.