Many women see a chiropractor during pregnancy, and it is safe at any stage of pregnancy. Seeing a chiropractor can help balance the pelvis, reduce pregnancy symptoms, reduce labor time, reduce the chance of a C-section, ease round ligament pain or sciatic pain, and turn a breech baby into the correct position. Chiropractors can use many gentle, non-invasive and safe techniques for care of a pregnant woman.
There are many changes that occur in the body during pregnancy. Some changes are a modified posture including rounded shoulders and “sway back” due to the growing belly and increased breast size. The hips also widen and tilt forward, which affects how a woman walks but can also cause pain in the hip or sciatic pain. The lower ribs also expand due to growing baby.
These changes can cause pain and other issues including heartburn, reflux, sciatica, and nausea. What chiropractic does for the pregnant body is restore the motion of the spinal segments, vertebra, and pelvis to restore function to the body.
When the function of the body is restored, women can have happy and healthy pregnancies.
Women can be adjusted at any stage of pregnancy from early pregnancy, to pre-labor and even into labor itself. If labor stalls, chiropractors can adjust the pregnant mother, modifying the technique to help stimulate labor.
Chiropractic care can also help a new mother in the postpartum phase. Birth is traumatic for the mother and child alike. Many changes and shifts in body position happen in the time it takes for the child to come out of the womb. Some of these maneuvers can cause residual pain to the new mother. Seeing a chiropractor after birth can help reduce these pains, promote production of breastmilk, provide more comfort while breastfeeding and even reduce the incidence of postpartum depression. Many women say that their first adjustment after birth is the best adjustment that they have ever had.
Chiropractic does not cure any of these conditions in pregnancy but it allows the nervous system to function at its best and when the nervous system functions at its best, then the rest of the body can as well.
- Round ligament pain
- Webster’s Technique
- Pelvic pain
- Sciatica
