Natural Delivery Positions According to Ancient Doctors of the Islamic Civilization Period (the 3rd to 13th Centuries)

Childbirth and becoming a mother is one of the most important events in everyone's life. Since the past times, in all civilizations, the positions has been used as a way to facilitate and speed up childbirth and it is one of the important and effective measures in the process of labor and delivery. It can be expected due to the history of traditional medicine and the strategic nature of its orders wich by identifying the positions which are presented in old texts of traditional medicine, It is possible to take an important step in preventing the prolongation of the birth process, dystocia and finally reducing the rate of cesarean section and increasing the health of mother and baby.

The current research is a library study in which the authentic texts of traditional medicine, including Kefayat al Teb, Al-Havi, Al-Qanun, Mofarreh al-Qolub, Kholase-Alhekmah and eleven other books, are directly studied and materials related to the mother's position were collected to facilitate childbirth and were presented in compliance with the principle of confidentiality.

In the present study squatting, sitting, knee chest, standing and semi sitting positions have been mentioned and knee chest position is recommended for obese people or those with pelvic and abdominal masses. In cases of deviation of the fetal body position to the left or right and anterior or posterior, placing the position opposite to the side of the deviation or correction by hand is mentioned and finally, the best position for childbirth is sitting on a chair.

In the texts of traditional medicine, not only the types of positions used in common medicine are mentioned, but also new positions such as knee chest position for obese people, the movement similar to swing riding, going down and going up the stairs and sitting down and standing up suddenly has been introduced which by doing more research in this field, it seems that they can be used to facilitate and speed up childbirth and to eliminate dystocia.