Chiropractic Care and Pregnancy
Chiropractic care if you're pregnant? ABSOLUTELY! Keeping your spine free from the vertebral subluxation complex is one of the best things you can do if you are pregnant. Pregnant women should see a chiropractor more than anyone else.Your doctor of chiropractic will examine your spinal column for misalignments (called vertebral subluxation) causing spine and nerve stress. These subluxations damage the nervous system and affect the workings of the entire body. If subluxations are present, the chiropractor will correct them with a gentle chiropractic spinal adjustment in order to release the spinal stress. Without subluxations the body will function better, have higher resistance to disease and express more wholeness (health) than a body with uncorrected subluxations. That is the essential message of chiropractic.
All this is extremely important for the pregnant woman who needs to have her body as healthy and strong as possible in order to handle the rigors of pregnancy and childbirth. Chiropractic care will help ensure that the reproductive and other systems so essential for a healthy pregnancy receive a nerve supply from the spinal column without interference. The slightest interference to the nerve supply could adversely affect the mother and the developing fetus.
Another excellent reason for seeing a chiropractor during pregnancy is that it is a drugless health care system. Drugs, whether prescription or over-the-counter, can harm the growing fetus.
There are so many things pregnant women worry about: staying pregnant, carrying the baby to full term, morning sickness, the baby developing normally, backaches, leg pain and if their labour will be safe and (hopefully) easy. Over the past 100 years chiropractic care has proven to help pregnant women by helping to maintain pregnancy, control vomiting during pregnancy, deliver full-term infants with ease and produce healthier infants.
Questions and Answers
Is chiropractic safe in pregnancy?
Chiropractic is very safe and very sensible for both mother and baby.
Is it difficult to receive a chiropractic adjustment when pregnant?
Not at all. Chiropractors are trained in adjusting the spines of pregnant women and many chiropractic adjusting tables have special modifications and pillows for the pregnant figure.
How late in pregnancy is it possible to get an adjustment?
Patients have received adjustments even during labour, as that is when movement/shifting happens in the mother's pelvic area.
Can spinal care help postpartum depression?
For years chiropractic's beneficial effects on emotional stress and personality have been noted. At least one journal has quoted a doctor as saying that "postpartum depression is a rarity in patients receiving chiropractic care".
Can back pain be helped with chiropractic?
Chiropractic is not a treatment or therapy for back or spinal pain. However, with chiropractic spinal adjustments the body will be better able to heal its back and spinal pain, as well as many other health problems. Studies have shown a significant decrease in back and labour pains in mothers receiving chiropractic care.
Do I have to have a problem in pregnancy to see a chiropractor?
Not at all. Chiropractic should be used as preventive maintenance. Periodic spinal checkups during pregnancy should be as common as periodic weight checkups.
Can my baby receive chiropractic?
Yes of course! Chiropractic is very safe and gentle. Infants as early as a few hours old have been given spinal checkups and adjustments. We strongly recommend and are passionate about children receiving spinal check-ups. Labour can be very stressful on a new born, having your baby checked as soon as possible will allow them the gift of good spinal and nerve health as they grow.
Research: Chiropractic and Pregnancy-Related Back Pain
There is an emerging call on chiropractors to treat expecting mothers for pregnancy-related spinal pain. Studies report that up to 61% of pregnant women suffer from back pain and that most who undergo chiropractic treatment demonstrate significant reduction in symptoms. Methods of treatment may include pelvic blocking, soft tissue release, adjustments, mobilisation, and the use of the Webster's technique. Remember, back pain should NOT be a part of pregnancy. After all, chiropractic is safe and may reduce pain intensity for the pregnant woman. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu...
Midwifery and Chiropractic: Bonding for Life
By Jeanne Ohm, D.C., F.I.C.P.A.
Originally Printed in I.C.P.A. Newsletter January/February 2001
The ICPA responded to the growing demand for this skill and began a marathon of classes to train Doctors in the correct application and use of this adjustment. Today, we maintain the only database available of Chiropractors who have been tested and are proficient in the Webster Technique.
Specific chiropractic care helps to provide an environment for safer, easier, faster deliveries. 7,8 Midwifery care is known to do so as well. 9 Chiropractors make the effort to meet with and educate the midwives in your area about your valuable services. Show support and enthusiasm for their important care. Together we will restore the sanctity and right of natural childbirth.
In my professional experience as a chiropractor I have had the opportunity to work with many midwives. I have come to learn that there are many similarities in the approach to healthcare between midwives and chiropractors. Both groups share an acknowledgement of, and trust in, the body's inner wisdom. Chiropractors call this wisdom "innate intelligence". When allowed to perform without interference, innate intelligence coordinates the responses to the body's needs at any given moment, thus maintaining the body's optimal health.
In chiropractic, we recognize that this inborn wisdom uses the nervous system as its conduit to transmit electrical impulses of intelligence to all systems and functions of the body, thus maintaining a state of homeostasis and balance. Mechanical pressure on the nervous system by the bones of the cranium and spine may interfere with this normal transmission of intelligence and result in a state of dis-ease. Chiropractors call this mechanical pressure on a nerve by the spine "vertebral subluxation". The specific chiropractic adjustment removes the pressure from the nervous system, restoring the pathways of transmission and therefore allowing for better overall function of the body.
Moreover, within both professions is profound support and commitment to non-invasive birthing procedures. Chiropractors and midwives alike share a genuine respect for the process of natural birthing, encouraging the mother to follow her intuition for guidance throughout the process. Managing labor from within rather than through the use of external drugs and obstetrical procedures allows for safer and easier deliveries for both the mother and baby. When subjected to unnecessary interventions not only is a mother's well being at risk, but many times the baby is also put at risk.
A particular concern of chiropractors is when there is force applied to the baby's head and neck during delivery, as this is a cause of much birth trauma. 1 Unnatural birthing positions also add to the risk of birth trauma. 2 The use of drugs during labor and delivery that may interfere with the mothers' intuition of natural birthing can also contribute to the use of additional force during delivery. 3 External forces applied during delivery may cause undetected injury to the baby's spine and cranium as well as to the delicate nervous system they are protecting. 4 Sometimes these injuries are obvious, but more often than not injury has occurred during the course of normal obstetric delivery procedures that is not detected. Birth trauma may have long lasting effects on the child's future health status. 5
Midwives and chiropractors also offer care that is personal to each individual and specific to every case. Midwives and chiropractors also share the unique ability to assess a patient's status with their own hands, and both professions are blessed with the privilege of touching others to bring about a greater expression of life.
These three common bonds have been enough to establish life-long supportive relationships between the two groups. 6 However there is a fourth cause for alliance and reciprocity between us. It is a specific chiropractic adjustment called the Webster Technique. Developed by Dr. Larry Webster and formerly called the Webster Breech Turning Technique, this particular chiropractic adjustment was classically used during the seventh through ninth months of pregnancy. It is primarily focused on women whose babies are presenting breech or transverse. Doctors of Chiropractic reported an >85% success rate in its ability to balance pelvic structures and remove constraint to the woman's uterus therefore allowing the baby to turn into the vertex position.
Midwives around the country are hearing about this technique and seeking out chiropractors trained in its use. Alliances are forming in communities and both mothers and babies are spared the irreparable damage caused by the growing number of c-sections. Midwives are referring patients to chiropractors even before malpresentations are evident, and their practices are reaping the benefits of overall easier, safer deliveries for both the mother and baby.
Doctors trained through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association have learned how to apply this specific adjustment, along with other chiropractic techniques, to benefit the mother and baby throughout pregnancy. Because we are working specifically to balance pelvic muscles and ligaments with their adjustments, we are removing constraint to the woman's uterus. This allows the baby to get into the best possible position for birth in a timely manner and the need for "crisis care" in the last couple of months of pregnancy is being eliminated.
Working with chiropractors almost every weekend, I know that one of their greatest objectives is to eliminate as many variables that lead to traumatic birth and therefore injury of the newborn's spine, cranium and nervous system. To achieve this goal, we need the help of midwives! We need their valuable services and care to the women in our communities. Our growing support of midwifery will fulfill their mission for natural birthing and ours as well.
References:
Towbin A. Latent spinal cord and brain stem injury in newborn infants. Develop Med Child Neurol 1969; 11:54-68
Gardosi J, Hutson N. Randomised controlled trial of squatting in the second stage of labour. Lancet 1989; 2(8654): 74-7
Studd JW, Crawford JS, Duignan NM, Rowbotham CJ, Hughes AO. The effect of lumbar epidural analgesia on the rate of cervical dilatation and the outcome of labour of spontaneous onset. Br J Obstet Gynaecol 1980; 87(11): 1015-21
Yashon, David, "Birth Injury", Spinal Injury 1996,8, 347-352
Biedermann H. Kinematic imbalance due to suboccipital strain in newborns. Manuelle Medizin 1992; 6:151-6
Allaire AD, Moos MK, Wells SR. Complementary and alternative medicine in pregnancy: a survey of North Carolina certified nurse-midwives. Obstet Gynecol 2000; 95(1): 19-23
Forrester J, Anrig C. The prenatal and perinatal period. In: Anrig C, Plaugher G, Eds. Pediatric Chiropractic. Baltimore, MD: Williams and Wilkins 1998: 75-161
Hofmeyr GJ, Nikodem VC, Wolman WL, Chalmers BE, Kramer T. Companionship to modify the clinical birth environment: effects on progress and perceptions of labour, and breastfeeding. Br J Obstet Gynaecol. 1991 ;98(8):756-64
Sosa R, Kennell J, Klaus M, Robertson S, Urrutia J. The effect of a supportive companion on perinatal problems, length of labor, and mother-infant interaction. N Engl J Med 1980; 303(11): 597-600.