The German-born physiotherapist Elisabeth Bing was one of a group of women to popularise natural childbirth in the 1960s. She believed a woman could give birth, if she chose, without being sedated and was a champion of the “Lamaze technique” — controlled breathing exercises to ease pain.
The sight of a woman breathing in and out as she goes into labour or a man present at his child’s birth is so common nowadays as to be unworthy of note. However, while training as a physiotherapist in English hospitals in the 1930s when she was required to visit maternity wards to help new mothers exercise, Bing was horrified to witness the methods used for women in delivery. They were often heavily drugged and had their legs