Chiropractic Care
Creating Well Adjusted Moms and Babies
Pregnancy is an exciting time full of countless body changes. All of the hormonal fluctuation, weight increase, and posture changes can really take a toll on an expectant mother's body. Many women experience nausea early in the pregnancy. However, as time passes, complaints such as low back pain and other body discomfort begin to dominate the daily problems. Back pain, neck pain, and headaches are all common complaints during pregnancy.
It is estimated that 50% of women experience low back pain during pregnancy. The reasons for low back pain during pregnancy might seem obvious, but there are actually very specific reasons pregnancy causes low back pain. As a pregnancy progresses, there are some striking posture changes and weight changes that take place. The protruding abdomen causes the normal curve in the low back to increase in size. A small "dip" in the low back is normal. Often during pregnancy, the weight of the large abdomen will pull the spine forward and cause the curve in the lower back to increase. This places a lot of stress on the joints of the lower back, which can lead to low back pain.
Another change that takes place during pregnancy is the hips expand laterally to help stabilize and support the additional weight in the abdomen. As the hips and pelvis open up to make room for the baby, additional stress is placed into two joints in the back of the pelvis called the sacroiliac joints. The sacroiliac joints are where the pelvis connects to the spine, and they are located between the low back and the buttocks. Too much pressure in the sacroiliac joints can cause one-sided low back pain, pain with walking, and pain when transitioning from standing to sitting.
Any of these posture changes alone is enough to cause low back pain, but the hormone changes during pregnancy complicate the problem even more. During pregnancy, hormones that relax and soften ligaments are produced. The softening of the ligaments is important to make space for the baby during birth. However, the softening of the ligaments can also cause joints to become too mobile. This can cause a bone to slip and become fixated in an improper and painful position. This is most common with the pelvic bones, and can lead to low back pain, pain with prolonged sitting, and even pain down the back of the leg.
Neck pain, headaches, and pain between the shoulder blades are also quite common during pregnancy. The posture and hormonal changes during pregnancy contribute to these pains, but sleeping position also affects these problems significantly. As the size of the abdomen increases, there are less sleeping positions that are comfortable and safe. Lying in the same position all night, or in some cases, sleeping sitting up puts tremendous strain on the joints of the neck and spine. This can lead to joint pain and even headaches when certain joints and muscles of the upper neck are affected.
Not all of the physical strains that happen during pregnancy cause pain. A hidden problem that can be associated with pelvic imbalances is intrauterine constraint. The uterus is anchored to the structures of the pelvis by ligaments. If the pelvis is out of alignment, there can be additional stress put on the ligaments that support the uterus. The additional stress on the ligaments can reduce the amount of space the baby has to move inside of the uterus. Due to intrauterine constraint, some babies in the breech position cannot move out of the breech position and into the vertex (head down) position for a normal birth.
What does chiropractic care have to offer?
Chiropractic care is a drugless and safe way to help you relieve many of these aches and pains during pregnancy. Studies have shown up to 84% of women report relief of their back pain during pregnancy following chiropractic care. Chiropractic care can also be beneficial for infants in the weeks following their birth.
Doctors of chiropractic are trained to detect and correct joint dysfunction such as joint misalignment, improper joint motion, and associated muscle tension. Chiropractic adjustments help restore normal alignment and motion to joints that have become misaligned or fixated. Gentle stretching can also be used to relieve the muscle tension that often builds up in the muscles that surround the spine. Special adjusting procedures are used during pregnancy. The adjustments are modified to be more gentle and to work with and around the growing abdomen. These treatments are safe for both the mother and the baby.
A special chiropractic technique called the Webster Technique can be used to reduce intrauterine constraint. The Webster Technique works to align the pelvis, reduce stress in the ligaments supporting the uterus, and give the baby as much room as possible to move. A study from The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics showed 82% of breech babies turned vertex (head down) on their own when the Webster Technique was used to balance the pelvis.
Infants can also benefit from chiropractic treatment. No matter how well a birth goes, the delivery process places a lot of strain and pressure on a baby. The neck of the baby is particularly susceptible to being stretched and twisted during birth. Forceps and vacuum extraction used during delivery increase the amount of strain placed on the baby's neck even further. These stresses during delivery often lead to misalignment of the neck and other joints in an infant. Spinal misalignments, often called subluxations, place unnecessary strain on the nervous system. Chiropractic adjustments can correct these misalignments safely and remove unnecessary strain from the nervous system. Chiropractic adjustments for infants are very gentle and typically involve only light pressure (3-4 ounces).
Pregnancy and childbirth are very physically demanding for both the mother and the baby. Chiropractic treatment provides many options for managing the huge physical changes that take place during this exciting phase of life. More women are choosing chiropractic care to help them manage pain, help with breech presentation, and care for their newborns. When preparing for your new arrival, consider including a chiropractor for the comfort and health of you and your baby.