Birth is a natural and beautiful process that can be likened to a dance between mom and baby. The geography of mom’s anatomy pairs perfectly with baby’s primitive reflexes, triggering these reflexes in an ideally choreographed ensemble and assisting in moving baby through the birth canal. Now imagine a dance partner that is constantly stepping on your toes. Not as beautiful a picture, is it? Mom’s body and spine go through a significant amount of change throughout pregnancy. The pressure put on mom’s spine and pelvis by a growing baby can cause structural shifts not only in the surrounding area, but throughout the rest of the spine as well. An imbalanced pelvis is akin to that dance partner that is always one step off, always tripping over their own two feet, always stepping on yours. This makes the dance difficult for both mom and baby. What would normally consist of rhythmic contractions from mom and reflexive movements from baby now does not seem to sync up, possibly causing longer and more strenuous, painful labor.
In our office, we focus on correcting these structural shifts in order to restore balance and normal function in mom’s body. For pregnant women, in addition to correcting primary structural shift of the upper spine, we utilize the Webster Technique. This technique is specifically designed to realign mom’s pelvis and assure that each of the bones of the pelvis is able to move in a normal, fluid fashion. By balancing the bones, ligaments, and muscles of the pelvis, through a series of gentle adjustments, normal function can be restored in mom’s system. As a side effect of normal function being restored, moms under chiropractic care tend to experience less pregnancy related discomfort. In fact, a study demonstrated that the length of labor time in women under regular chiropractic care was up to 39% shorter than the national average and that these women experienced less back pain.
If you or someone you know are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, we would love to further discuss how chiropractic care can be beneficial during this very special time!