Expecting moms know that aches and pains are part of being pregnant. Joints ache with the additional weight of the baby, lower back pain is common, and hips and ribs sometimes hurt due to the mom’s expanding midsection. Many pregnant women have discovered that making chiropractic care part of their routine maternity treatments helps ease the aches and pains of pregnancy and facilitates easier labor and delivery.
Chiropractic care is a natural, drug-free way to keep human bodies healthy and functioning at their best. Chiropractic adjustments can also help ensure a healthier pregnancy, labor, and birth. Many chiropractors are trained in special adjusting techniques specifically for pregnant women—for example, the Webster Technique, which is a chiropractic adjustment of the sacrum bone (the bone at the base of the spine that forms the middle of the pelvis) reducing subluxation and SI joint dysfunction.
Chiropractic care during pregnancy can be beneficial in the following ways:
Relieve Back Pain
Chiropractic care is designed to keep the spine in proper alignment, and adjustments can help prevent and relieve the back pain associated with pregnancy. Pregnancy is tough on the body’s skeletal structure, especially as the baby grows and gets heavier. The weight of an expanding belly changes posture and spinal curvature, and chiropractic care can help correct posture problems and help the spine keep its intended curve.
Ease Pregnancy Symptoms
Some mothers use chiropractic to help ease pregnancy symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting. It doesn’t work for all women, but chiropractic is one way to try to get some relief from morning sickness. If nausea and vomiting are due in part to nerves pinched by out-of-place vertebrae, an adjustment will help remedy the problem.
Boost the Immune System
The main premise of chiropractic care is to allow the body to heal itself by removing obstructions to the nerves in the spinal column. When the nerves allow the brain and the body to communicate freely, the body can work as it was designed. Chiropractic helps ensure a healthy immune system for both mom and baby, whose immune systems are very intimately connected during pregnancy.
Help Better Position Baby
Chiropractic can help position a baby correctly for birth. If the hips and lower spine are out of place, the baby could end up sideways, posterior, or breech—none of which are ideal positions for labor and birth. Chiropractic adjustments can thus help get baby in the proper position, by ensuring that there are no vertebrae out of place.
Improve Labor and Birth Process
Chiropractic adjustments can help shorten labor and make the birth process easier. If the mother’s spine and hips are in proper alignment, and if all the nerves to the muscles and organs in her body are free and healthy, labor and birth can progress more easily and possibly take less time than if there was an alignment issue. For moms desiring a drug-free natural birth, chiropractic care can help accomplish that goal.
After birth, chiropractic can help in the postpartum healing process by correcting misalignments that may have occurred during labor or birth, and ensuring that the mother’s body is functioning optimally so that she can heal. Chiropractic is also essential for correcting posture problems and back pain resulting from breastfeeding or bottle feeding, and from carrying the baby around.
For more information on the Webster technique or to find a chiropractor certified in the technique in your area visit icpa4kids.com/training/webster-certification/webster-technique.
