Chiropractic: The new standard of pregnancy

Written by: Dr. Stacy Fuller

During pregnancy, most women take every precaution possible to ensure a healthy, safe pregnancy. We go to regular appointments with our OB or midwife, we refrain from certain foods and we take our prenatal vitamins religiously. So why are we not more concerned with the position and movement of our pelvis?

Most women do not think about the mobility and alignment of their pelvis until they either experience pain or are quickly approaching their delivery date. Chiropractic care can still correct and alleviate many issues at these points, but why not take care of ourselves before there is an issue. After all, you don’t wait to see your OB or midwife until after you are worried something is wrong, you go right away to monitor potential issues. So why take that approach with chiropractic care?

Chiropractic care during pregnancy is essential for maintaining proper spinal and pelvic alignment during pregnancy. It would be very difficult to go through pregnancy without any misalignments and/or muscular and ligamentous imbalances due to the rapid change in the mom’s body while accommodating the growing uterus. Treatment of these issues is important not only for the mother’s health and comfort but for the babies as well. For example, a restriction of one side of the pelvis could lead to sciatic nerve pain for the mom due to an increase in the tension of external hip rotator muscles leading to compression of the nerve as it travels underneath these muscles. It could also lead to breech positioning for the baby due to space constrictions making it difficult or impossible for the baby to turn to the proper head down position prior to delivery. If this positioning is not corrected prior to delivery most healthcare providers insist on a C-section, which is not optimal for mother or baby. Now, this is not to say that if you are restricted on one side of your pelvis that you are going to have sciatic pain or a breech baby leading to a C-section, but eating deli meat doesn’t guarantee a bacterial infection either. The point here is the risk. Why risk a potential problem when prevention is so simple.

There are currently no documented, evidence-based contraindications to chiropractic care during any stage of pregnancy. Regular adjustments and specifically Webster technique with breech babies have been shown to decrease labor time, decrease the need for medical interventions and increase the likelihood of a complication-free delivery. So, if chiropractic care can help during both pregnancy and labor why not incorporate it as a standard component of care for all pregnancies?

If you or someone you know is pregnant consider utilizing chiropractic care. It’s never too early to start and you’ll probably be grateful you did!

Contact our office if you have more questions.