Perianal Tactile Feedback Device for Labor Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing incidence of Cesarean childbirth due to epidurals desensitizing mothers, delaying childbirth progression, and the lack of effective devices and methods for actively managing labor to promote vaginal births and prevent pelvic floor injuries.
Innovation Solution
A tactile feedback device is positioned adjacent the perianal tissues to monitor and manage labor progression, providing adjustable pressure to guide contractions and prevent tissue damage, including the use of a blocking element to inhibit evulsion or protrusion of soft tissue and a pressure detecting system to ensure safe pushing efforts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If epidurals and pain relieving drugs are used during labor, then pain is reduced, but the mother becomes desensitized to natural body signals needed to push, delaying childbirth progression
Solution Approach 1:
The device provides tactile feedback to the mother during contractions by applying pressure to the perianal tissues, enabling her to sense contraction strength and timing despite epidural anesthesia. This feedback loop allows the mother to maintain effective pushing behavior even when desensitized by pain medication, thereby resolving the contradiction between pain relief and childbirth progression.
2Productivity
If the mother pushes harder to accelerate labor progression, then childbirth progresses faster, but pelvic floor tissues and anal sphincter may be damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The device provides real-time tactile feedback during pushing efforts, allowing the mother to sense when adequate pressure is being applied. This enables her to push effectively without excessive force, and the device can be adjusted to provide support during high-effort pushes while preventing tissue damage through controlled pressure application.
Solution Approach 2:
The device provides preemptive support to the perianal tissues before damage can occur during pushing. By positioning the device adjacent to the perianal tissues before labor progresses to the critical stage, it creates a protective cushion that prevents tissue evulsion and sphincter damage while still allowing effective labor progression.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a tactile feedback device is applied to provide support to perianal tissues, then tissue damage is prevented, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The device employs a flexible, thin perianal support member that can be positioned adjacent to the perianal tissues. This flexible shell design provides the necessary support and tactile feedback functionality while maintaining a simple, minimally invasive structure that does not significantly increase device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides methods for decreasing the duration of second stage labor by managing the labor process. In one aspect, a tactile feedback device is positioned adjacent the perianal tissues. A mother's labor is monitored for the progression of the baby along the birth canal and adjustments are performed in response to the progression of labor to promote a vaginal childbirth. A perianal support device includes a perianal support member having a pressure surface configured for engagement with tissue adjacent an anal orifice and a pressure detecting system associated with the perianal support member to detect pressure indicative of pressure on the perianal tissue of a patient.