Chiropractic care can be one of the most helpful tools during pregnancy to relieve pain and deliver a healthy baby. Chiropractic care is the health maintenance of the spine, your discs, all the related nerves, and the geometry of the bones without drugs or surgery (all-natural). It involves the art and science of adjusting misaligned joints of the body, especially of the spine, which reduces spinal nerve stress and therefore promotes health throughout the body.
All chiropractors have been trained to work with pregnant women, and there is absolutely no known research showing chiropractic care to be dangerous or not recommended during pregnancy.
As a matter of fact, I’ve put together 5 good reasons why you should see a chiropractor during your pregnancy.
#1. If You’re Healthy, the Baby is Healthy
One of the main premises of chiropractic care is to keep the body in balance and to let it heal itself via the removal of spinal obstructions to the nerves of the spinal column. When your nerves are aligned correctly, they allow the brain and body to communicate correctly, keeping you healthier and allowing the body to perform as it was intended. Chiropractic care also ensures a healthy immune system for Mom and baby.
#2. You Can Ease Your Pregnancy Symptoms
Everyone knows that a pregnancy is chock full of back and body pain, not to mention the morning sickness and constant need to pee after 4 mos. Chiropractic can help ease pregnancy symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting. It doesn’t work for all women, but chiropractic is one way to try to get some relief from morning sickness. If the nausea and vomiting are due in part to nerves pinched by an out-of-place vertebra, an adjustment will help remedy the problem.
#3. A Chiropractor Can Better Prepare You For Delivery
A chiropractor who is trained in the needs of women who are pregnant will also provide you with exercises and stretches that are safe to use during pregnancy. Chiropractic adjustments can help shorten labor and make the birth process easier. If the mother’s spine and hips are in proper alignment, and if all the nerves to the muscles and organs in her body are free and healthy, labor and birth can progress more easily and possibly take less time than if there was an alignment issue. For moms desiring a drug-free natural birth, chiropractic care can help them accomplish that goal.
#4. Your Baby Will Be Positioned Better
Chiropractic can help position baby correctly for birth. If the hips and lower spine are out of place, the baby could end up sideways, posterior or breech–none of which are ideal positions for labor and birth. Chiropractic adjustments can thus help get baby in the proper position, by ensuring that there are no vertebrae out of place. Chiropractors that have been trained to work with pregnant women may use tables that adjust for a pregnant woman’s body, and they will use techniques that avoid unneeded pressure on the abdomen, which can cause the baby to end up being moved into the wrong position.
#5. Finally Get Some Back Pain Relief
Designed to keep your spine in alignment, chiropractic care can help prevent and relieve back pain associated with pregnancy. Pregnancy is tough on the body’s skeletal structure, especially as baby grows and gets heavier! The weight of your expanding belly changes your posture and spinal curvature, and chiropractic can help correct posture problems and help your spine keep its intended curve.
All in all, the nervous system is the master communication system to all the body systems. Keeping the spine aligned helps the entire body work more effectively. It is our job as chiropractors to provide the highest quality services available to our patients and to help them work through every aspect of life, be it pregnant, in pain, had an accident, or anything else. A lot of time, I even come to be a patient’s first call when feeling sick, even though they may have a Primary Care Provider that’s an MD, they don’t want to take medicine, and I can help them get through it w/o pharmaceuticals.
Discuss these options with your health care provider. If they are not yet familiar with chiropractic care in pregnancy, ask them to find out more about its many benefits. Most importantly, seek options that support your body’s natural abilities to function and find a team of providers who are respectful of your choices.