Review Study of Dystocia Cause in Classic Medicine and Iranian Traditional Medicine

Dystocia means difficult labor or childbirth, a period of non progression of labor≥4 hours after the cervix has dilated 3 cm due toabnormal presentation, birth canal stenosis or uterine dysfunction. In traditional Iranian medicine, dystocia is defined as “difficult birth" or "Osrolveladeh". This study aimed to review causes of dystocia in the Iranian traditional medicine and classic medicine. In Iranian traditional medicine texts, risk factors for dystocia included maternal cause, fetal cause, uterus and membranes organ around uterus, and external causes. This study is a literature review as result of continuous study on 6 credible books in traditional Iranian medicine. At first, causes of "difficult birth" or "Osrolveladeh" obtained from 6 credible books in traditional Iranian medicine then for each causes, related scientific themes in classic medicine were searched and obtained from Pubmed, SID, Ovid, Iran doc, Science direct databases using the following key words: dystocia, labor, malposition, newborn macrosomia, from 1995 to 2011. Causes of "difficult birth" or "Osrolveladeh" in Iranian traditional medicine included maternal, fetal, uterus and membrane, organs around the uterus, and external causes that compared with causes of "dystocia" in classical medicine. All dystocia causes mentioned in Iranian traditional medicine are proved by classic medicine, but some causes exist in Iranian traditional medicine that are not in the classic medicine so these causes need to be studied.