فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Background and Aim: Prolonged and difficult labor, as a potential complication of natural childbirth, can create numerous problems for both the mother and the newborn. Iranian Traditional Medicine (ITM), as an ancient medical school, has extensively discussed topics related to pregnancy health and methods for facilitating childbirth. It has provided specific pharmaceutical measures and Materia Medica for the ninth month of pregnancy and during labor. These recommendations can contribute to an easier, safer and less painful delivery. This study aimed to prioritize the Materia Medica recommended in ancient texts by Iranian scientists and physicians for facilitating and accelerating childbirth. Methods: This research is a descriptive review study. Authoritative books of traditional medicine from various centuries of the Islamic civilization period were selected and examined. Materia Medica effective in facilitating childbirth were searched using keywords such as difficult childbirth, fetal expulsion, facilitating childbirth, Iranian medicine and medical history. The research stages included: topic alignment, keyword identification, source identification, searching sources and finding Materia Medica, extracting the degree and intensity of therapeutic effects of the Materia Medica and preparing tables, reviewing phrases and finding synonyms, summarization, scoring, prioritization and chart drawing. Ethical Considerations: All ethical principles related to review studies, such as textual authenticity and integrity, were observed. Results: The effective Materia Medica in facilitating labor, which were summarized, scored and prioritized according to the research steps, consisted of 279 single ingredients of plant, animal or mineral origin. Among these, lodestone (magnetite) with 39 points, castoreum with 35 points, fenugreek, saffron, snake and purging cassia with 32 points and galbanum with 31 points and donkey with 29 points were ranked in the first to fifth priorities, respectively. Conclusion: The Materia Medica identified in this study can form the basis for further basic and clinical studies aimed at developing suitable and effective herbal medicines for facilitating childbirth.