This is a technique to use only occasionally in labor. Walcher's Trochanter Roll is used to engage a baby that is high, not really in the pelvis yet. The baby may be stuck at the brim or inlet of the pelvis. I don't know if it works in pregnancy, before labor. But I know that if you can use this position through and between three contractions in labor that it will bring the baby into a normal pelvic brim. Contractions make it work. 

Please let me refer you off my site to CoreAwareness.com with Liz Koch. I'm really excited about her work and she can tell you the best.

http://www.coreawareness.com/qanda/hands-on-techniques-psoas/#more-826 

Hands and knees position, all fours, knees and elbows and kneeling over a birthing ball. Crawling and stretching exercises, too! These are similar positions that actually assist the baby with the movements of birth. Read how making your belly the perfect hammock can help prepare for labor and make progress for your birth. This is the safest position for birthing a breech baby, read why!

A common question about using maternal positioning and the techniques featured at Spinning  Babies is whether using these techniques can cause a baby in a good position to get into a "bad" position. Another related question is whether doing these techniques for a head down baby can make the baby flip to head down.

I am inclined to say no. With exceptions....

The pelvic floor is a "bowl"of muscles holding up the lower abdominal organs. The pelvic floor has an opening that allows the baby to descend (come down) through in labor. Innocent habits of modern life can make the pelvic floor tight or twisted, things like driving a car or crossing our legs. Sports accidents or falls on either the head or the bum are suspect, too. Tension or torsion in the pelvic floor lengthens labor. An asymmetry (uneven) in the pelvic floor can make the baby's head tip causing an asynclitism (tipped head) that makes labor longer and increases the chance of cesarean or vacuum (ventouse). The Side-lying Release (also called the pelvic floor release) can help labor progress in the presence of a posterior, brow or asynclitic fetal presentation.

Start by Relaxing the abdominal muscles and ligaments and moving the pelvic joints

Relaxation doesn't only mean taking a deep breath. Breathing evenly and deeply is important, however. But for good fetal positioning and labor progress the ligaments, joints and fascia (the membrane surrounding our muscles, organs and bones) need to be relaxed and symmetrical.

What you can do to help your labor. Many mothers may need to really focus on relaxing the involuntary muscles and get help to release the fascia.

The need for techniques varies among women. Like the bell curve, some women - on one end - will not need any techniques. Most will benefit from a few, whether in pregnancy and/or during labor. And a few women in every group will not receive the benefits of techniques until they visit with one or even more professionals for specific body work techniques. This article lists the professionals who offer body work to pregnant (and sometimes, laboring) women and then gives a brief description of their service. 

A technique for labor when progress is slow. Contractions help this technique to work effectively.  Penny Simkin and Ruth Ancheta call it the Roll-over. Others have called it flipping pancakes.

At Spinning Babies, I've said, when you want to move the baby, move the mother. This technique literally rotates the mother to help the baby rotate! We've used variations of this technique for many years. The mom shown here is in a variation of the Hands and Knees position, the start of the Roll-over.

The Breech Tilt is a widely known inversion technique to help a breech baby flip to a head-down position. 

Use this technique 1-3 times a day if you are told your baby is breech. You can start as early as 30-32 weeks and continue through to the time that you know that your baby is head down. Some doctors suggest starting later because most babies flip on their own. The Breech Tilt is not invasive. Ask your doctor if there is any medical reason not to do a Breech Tilt for your breech baby starting after 30 weeks. Alternatively, the Forward-leaning Inversion is recommended at any weeks gestation for any fetal position.

For more understanding, read the Inversion article in this section and Flip a Breech under Baby Positions.

Getting into an upside down position can help a breech, an oblique (diagonal lie) or posterior baby reposition themselves.

Leah is using the forward-leaning inversion in late pregnancy. Leah has her chin tucked and her womb actually hangs, for just a moment, by her cervical ligaments.
On using the inversion for late pregnancy to help fetal position. Sometimes the uterine ligaments are not equal on each side of the body. If one side has shortened ligaments the entire lower uterine segment can have a twist in it. This effect is not uncommon among women who twist to do their work (massage therapists, nurses, chiropractors, etc.) or who hold a child on one hip frequently.

The Abdominal Lift is of the most effective early labor techniques was popularized by a Texas Engineer who wrote Back Pain No More. I learned it from Penny Simkin at her Birth Doula Training.

I added the word tuck to remind the user to tuck their pelvis. By this I mean do a standing Pelvic Tilt. By this I mean flattening the lower back. 

Here are two pictures.

The dangle allows the pelvis to have the most mobility of any technique.

When contractions are strong and the baby needs more room to come down, the dangle can make all the difference.

 

The Lunge opens the midpelvis. It is a good technique to be used in labor, during a contraction, for:

•    Helping an occiput posterior baby rotate or descend
•    Helping an asynclitic baby descend
•    Overcome a stall in active labor

Sifting, or jiggling, the entire abdomen between contractions can relax tight ligaments and help a woman relax into her labor. The hospital has muscle relaxants and narcotics to relax a woman who is either tense emotionally, or simply tense in her abdominal fascia, prolonging labor. But this simple and fun technique from the Yucatan Peninsula helps relax mothers with no drugs at all. It can be done daily or weekly in pregnancy and done between contractions during early and early active labor