Why You Should See a Chiropractor During Pregnancy
Your pregnancy changes your entire world, and for 50 to 70 percent of pregnant women, it also changes your back.
Back pain and pelvic pain are common during pregnancy. They're so common that your doctor probably told you to expect them.
Why is back pain so prevalent? The way you hold and move your body changes as you deal with the additional weight. As your baby grows, you need to adjust the way you sit, stand, and lie down to accommodate them.
Because you can't stop your baby from growing, you can't prevent pain. But you can lessen it by seeing a chiropractor during pregnancy.
A chiropractor is your ally during this special time. Here's what seeing a pregnancy chiropractor can do for you.
Is Seeing a Chiropractor During Pregnancy Safe?
Yes, not only is it safe to see a chiropractor during pregnancy, but it is also often recommended. However, you should always ask your doctor or specialist before scheduling an appointment.
Women experiencing these issues are usually not good candidates for chiropractic care:
- Vaginal bleeding
- Ectopic pregnancy
- Placenta previa or abruption
- Toxemia (moderate to severe)
Chiropractors understand that they are caring for both you and your baby during each treatment. So, they use special techniques to treat prenatal and postnatal patients. Most of these also require extensive and distinct training.
Look for chiropractors who have a DACCP diploma or CACCP certificate. Additionally, a Webster Certified chiropractor is trained to work specifically with pelvic balance issues.
How Chiropractic Care Aids Benefits Pregnancy
Your body changes dramatically during your pregnancy. And as beautiful as the changes are, they can also impact the level of physical comfort you are accustomed to when not pregnant.
Here's how seeing a chiropractor during pregnancy can help.
Pain Relief
Chiropractic care provides pregnant women with pain relief that starts at the source rather than an option that masks your pain.
One of the critical issues women face is changes in posture.
As your baby grows, they change your center of gravity. Your body then works to adjust itself and keep you upright. For most women, the change leads to poor posture.
The pain associated with poor posture has a direct cause. Often, it is a misalignment of your spine or joints. Another frequent change is an increased curvature in your back caused by your belly (abdomen) sticking out and your body adjusting.
However, you also know that pretty much anything can trigger back pain at a certain point of your pregnancy. Standing too long or bending down to pick up your other children can result in crippling pain. A chiropractor can help you deal with these causes of pain as well.
Pelvic Alignment
As you prepare for labor, your pelvis begins to adjust in anticipation. Those adjustments can leave your pelvis unbalanced, which in turns sitting, standing, walking, and lying down into a challenge.
An unbalanced pelvis isn't just your problem. You share your body now, and it impacts your baby. When your pelvis is misaligned, your baby doesn't have enough room (intrauterine constraint). In worst-case scenarios, the lack of room to move obstructs their movements and leads to congenital disabilities.
It also complicates birth. Your baby needs to make their way into a rear-facing, head down position to be born. If your pelvis is cramped, they may not be able to reach that position on their own. They may end up in breech or even a posterior position, which extends labor, complicates delivery and increases the need for a cesarean section (C-section).
Chiropractors use what's called the Webster Technique to correct the causes of intrauterine constraint.
The Webster Technique is a particular type of analysis and adjustment designed for a pregnant woman's pelvis. It's a very gentle form of manipulation that relies on the basic anatomy of your pelvis.
We use the Webster Technique both to correct an unbalanced pelvis and enhance normal functioning as well as to prepare you for birth. By starting early, you reduce the likelihood of being diagnosed with a malposition in your eighth month.
Controlling Your Nausea
Keeping your body in alignment is vital for your general health before, during, and after pregnancy.
Manual treatments can also help you with other less-than-ideal pregnancy symptoms, including:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Dizziness
- Heartburn
- Headache
- Insomnia
- Hyperosmia
- Hypersalivation
A study of manual treatments found that it eases those symptoms in 98.2 percent of women after the first treatment.
Chiropractor care is drugless, low cost, and safe for pregnant women. Plus, you don't need to wait for it to kick in. It starts to work immediately in almost all women.
Simplifying Labor
Labor for first-time moms tends to be longer than for veterans of the delivery room. It's not until you're around 20 hours in that the doctors even begin to call it "prolonged labor" - as if 12, 14, 16, or 18 hours wasn't prolonged enough.
Studies consistently show that first-time moms who see a chiropractor during pregnancy experience a 25 percent shorter labor on average.
The literature also shows that women and their children also experience improved outcomes during delivery. Not only does the practice date back over a century, but additional studies show that using a chiropractor reduces the likelihood of:
- Pre-term delivery
- Cesarean delivery
- Meconium-stained amniotic fluid
- Use of forceps during birth (which can cause injury)
While chiropractic care has marked benefits for first-time mothers, it also benefits mothers on their second and third pregnancies and beyond.
Is It Time to See a Chiropractor?
Seeing a chiropractor during pregnancy is an effective and inexpensive way to relieve some of those nagging symptoms that make your pregnancy feel less magical. It is also recognized as a safe and essential way to prepare both your body and your baby for the delivery process.
Whether you have back pain, nausea, or all the possible pregnancy symptoms, a chiropractor can help. We offer all expectant mothers a free 15-minute consultation to discuss your pregnancy and your needs.
Click here to request your free appointment.
