Many women ask whether they can get chiropractic care when they are pregnant. Yes, pregnancy is a fantastic time to get chiropractic care as your body is going through major change in preparation for a major event.
Chiropractic helps women stay as healthy as they can possibly be, pre-pregnancy, during pregnancy, and postpartum. Getting your spine checked by a chiropractor ensures that your pelvis is sitting correctly to allow the ultimate room for your baby to grow and move. We utilize modified techniques to accommodate your growing belly.
Pelvic Joints
The hormone relaxin peaks at 14 weeks gestation which means your pelvis and ligaments will start to relax and change the shape in order for a growing baby to feed inside it. If your pelvic joints are twisted or one is a bit stuck, this will make your pregnancy quite uncomfortable. When the joint is stuck, it indicates that the other surrounding joints need to work a lot harder, creating problems in other parts of your spine. This creates more tension around your pelvic muscles and the ligaments attaching your uterus to the pelvis and pubic bone.
Lower back pain
Over 50% of women complain of lower back pain during pregnancy with the pelvic joint pain most commonly affected. Maintaining the integrity of your spine with chiropractic adjustments can help restore the proper alignment and function of your spine. It will help facilitate the normal growth of the baby and ensure that there are no stuck joints preventing the baby’s movement.
Other pregnancy discomforts
We are also capable of helping those with mid-back pain due to increased breast size and pressure. Keeping thoracic, lumbar, and lumbar-sacral joints free of problems can help with other unnecessary discomforts during pregnancy such as constipation, frequent urination, sciatica, lower back pain, symphysis pubis pain, and pelvic pain. If the pelvis is working properly, the baby’s head will descend and you can give birth more easily resulting in less chance for needed intervention.
Spine and pelvis alignment
Research shows that correct alignment of the spine and pelvis contributes to the most straightforward labour with less pain and trauma for the mother and child. If the mother’s body has problems, this can lead to constraints that can interfere with the baby’s presentation and natural delivery. So, if these joints are moving correctly, the baby’s body being as smart as it is, actually turns and twists into the correct position to come out.
For more information, visit the Spinning Babies website.
We hope this post has answered some of those questions that you might have and we look forward to seeing you soon.