Study on kneeling during childbirth

I am so often amazed at how common sense the results of many of these studies seem. A study from Sweden reports that women who kneel during childbirth experience less pain than those who deliver in a seated position.

Do we really need someone to tell us this? Kneeling would get the spine into a better position than sitting and move the tailbone out of the way.
When a mother is upright or in a forward leaning position, the angles and internal dimensions can change dramatically to allow the baby easier passage through her pelvis. Like squatting, kneeling is probably likely to open up the pelvic outlet a bit better than many other positions. Oh yeah, then there's also that little thing called gravity that helps when the mother is upright!

Before male doctors stuck women into beds with their feet in stirrups, most women labored and birthed in upright positions. Native American women traditionally kneeled, leaning forward and clinging to a tipi pole or a tree. In Africa it was common for the woman to kneel with her legs wide apart and her heels supporting her own perineum. In many cultures a woman would sit another's lap or squat between a support person's thighs. Birth stools and chairs evolved from these lap-sitting and squatting positions.


I do have to note that there is an error in the article linked here. It states:

However, the duration of the active phase of labor (the time spent pushing) is similar with the two approaches, according to the study, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The active phase of labor is NOT the pushing phase. "Active labor" actually refers to the cervix being dilated >4cm and the mother having regular contractions.