Why get chiropractic adjustments?
- Chiropractic adjustments before conception, and during and after pregnancy are critical to maintaining a healthy nervous system for both mother and child. As the pregnant mother begins expanding to make room for the fetus, levels of relaxin in the tissue increase to allow for the expansion. Due to the relaxin the skeletal system (the bones of the spine in particular) are more susceptible to shift and “get out of place.” Pregnant and lactating women are always out of alignment in their spines. It takes a while post-delivery for the body to go back to its original state. This mis-alignment of the spine causes a woman to experience poor body biomechanics which can ultimately exacerbate intra-uterine constraint on the fetus. Just as the uterus is attached to the sacrum, so is the sacrum attached to the spinal column at the L5-sacral junction (the lower region of the lumbar spine). Many pregnant women experience spinal pain both during and after delivery.
- What if my baby is breech?
A chiropractic technique called the Webster Technique has been shown to be extremely effective in reducing intra-uterine constraint, ultimately allowing the baby to turn or become un-breeched on its own. It is recommended to get an ultrasound to determine the exact position of the baby prior to treatment. The sooner you know that your baby is breech – especially in the third trimester – the sooner chiropractic care can help to prevent intra-uterine constraint on the fetus. - Why get adjusted after delivery?
Just as the mother’s body has grown and adapted to handle a growing fetus, so does the mother’s body need to adapt back to its original pre-pregnancy state. Bones and ligaments in the human body need assistance to be placed back into proper alignment. With all of the physical stressors on the mother’s body, it cannot make this transformation on its own. Often women who are five to ten years post-delivery have spinal-related complaints. We believe that a majority of these complaints could have been prevented with proper post-delivery chiropractic care.