BackgroundLow‐dose combined spinal‐epidural analgesia in labor has proved popular with women because lower‐limb motor power is preserved, allowing ambulation. However, there has been debate about the safety of allowing women to walk following low‐dose regional analgesia because of somato‐sensory impairment. The authors undertook a prospective controlled observational study using computerized dynamic posturography to examine balance function in pregnant women after combined spinal‐epidural analgesia.MethodsThe authors performed posturographic testing on 44 women in labor after institution of regional analgesia and compared them with a control group of 44 pregnant women. A separate group of six women were tested both before and after combined spinal‐epidural analgesia.ResultsNeurologic examination after regional analgesia showed two parturients (4%) to have motor weakness (excluded from posturography). Four women (9%) had clinical dorsal column sensory loss; these women all completed posturography. The spinal‐epidural analgesia group showed a small, statistically significant reduction in one of six posturographic sensory‐organization tests; however, this difference was functionally minor. There were no other differences in posturography between the control and spinal‐epidural groups. Similar results were found in the paired study, in which there was minimal change in balance function after spinal‐epidural analgesia.ConclusionsThis is the first study to objectively examine the effect of spinal‐epidural analgesia on balance function. Using computerized dynamic posturography, the authors were unable to find any functional impairment of balance function after spinal‐epidural ambulatory analgesia in women in labor who had no clinical evidence of motor block.