PRENATAL
CHIROPRACTIC CARE
“It is our personal theory that chiropractic attention in pregnancy not only helps avoid or relieve back pain, but also can affect your labor by helping your back and pelvic structures be better prepared to handle the stresses of labor and birth.”
William Sears, M.D.
Having your body assessed by a qualified chiropractor may be one of the most important things you can do during your pregnancy to help insure that you have the best pregnancy and labor that you can.
To understand how a chiropractor can help you with your pregnancy, you need to understand a little about chiropractors. You can think of being able to divide chiropractors into two groups: limited scope chiropractors and wellness chiropractors.
A limited scope chiropractor chooses to limit their practice to relief of neck and back pain only. These are the “Pain Relief” practices, or accident/injury specialists. These doctors provide specialized care to patients with musculoskeletal injuries and disorders, and perform a valuable service, as not everyone is interested in wellness care.
The other type of chiropractor is a wellness chiropractor. A wellness chiropractor focuses on the general health and well being of a person, with the intent of maximizing that person’s health potential, helping them stay at their optimal health. While a wellness chiropractor can certainly help with pain relief, the goal of someone who chooses this type of care is to feel healthier and have more energy, to reduce the affects of aging, and avoid as much as possible becoming involved with the conventional medical system.
To understand how a chiropractor can help do this, one term you need to know about is Vertebral Subluxation, or subluxation for short. Subluxation refers to a mechanical problem in the spine that causes nerve system interference. As you are reading this, every process – your heart beating, your kidneys filtering, your stomach digesting, your postural muscles contracting, your hormones flowing, your immune system working, and so forth – all of what your body is doing right now is directed and controlled by your brain through the nervous system. Every cell in your body is constantly sending information to the brain about what it is doing, and the brain is responding with directions. Subluxation interferes with this process, making it work less than optimally.
Dorland’s medical dictionary defines health as “A state of optimum physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.” The fact is that you can have health, or you can have subluxation, but you can’t have both. It doesn’t work that way. The wellness chiropractor’s primary job is to detect and correct subluxations in order to optimize your health. Because a subluxation can cause pain only about 10% of the time, this type of care goes way beyond “bad backs.” The chiropractor’s job after correcting the subluxation is to act as a coach to work with the person to reduce, as much as possible, the physical, emotional, and chemical stresses that caused the subluxation in the first place.
Benefits to the pregnant mom
If there is any time in a woman’s life when she should be at her healthiest, it is during pregnancy. If she has subluxation, her health is compromised. If she has those subluxations removed, her health improves. Healthier mom means a healthier baby, an easier more pleasant pregnancy, and better chances of having the type of birth she wants.
Pregnant members of my practice have reported not only that their pains go away or are more tolerable after beginning care, but that they sleep better, have more energy, have less of the so called “normal” aches and pains associated with pregnancy. Because we have removed nerve interference, some feel a better connection with their body and the baby. And, because chiropractic care can reduce the stress that mom is under, baby enjoys the best possible experience while preparing to enter the world.
Webster Technique
The other benefit of prenatal chiropractic care comes from specific application of the Webster Technique. Dr. Webster developed the technique as a specific way to balance the structures of the pelvis in a pregnant mom.
Here’s how it works. The uterus is attached in back to the sacrum (the triangular shaped bone between your hips) by the Broad ligament, and it is attached in front by two Round ligaments(the round ligaments also contain smooth muscle tissue) which then attach into the inguinal area. I picture the uterus as a balloon suspended between these three ligaments. If the sacrum is subluxated from what ever stresses that mom has had to her body over her lifetime, one side of the top part of that triangle of the sacrum will rotate backward. This puts increased tension on the broad ligament that is attached to it, which in turn tugs on the uterus causing Uterine Torsion. Frequently, because of that tugging, tension will be put on the round ligament in front, usually on the opposite side. Because the round ligament is actually a musculo-ligamentous structure, it can tighten and sometimes spasm from that strain. This is the source of round ligament pain that women are told is normal.
Uterine torsion is what you don’t want: picture holding a balloon (your uterus) at either end and tugging. While the length increases, the middle space is less.
The effect of uterine torsion is that the amount of room for the baby is reduced. This can interfere with the baby’s growth. It can lead to a malposition – breech, transverse, posterior or otherwise as the baby twists into one position but can’t get back. Even without a malposition, uterine torsion is a major source of dystocia, difficult labor. And dystocia leads to labor interventions which may be avoided with the Webster Technique.
The Technique
The Webster technique involves two low-force procedures. The first is a check for sacral subluxation. If that is found the sacrum is gently set back into position, usually while the mom is laying face down on specially designed pregnancy pillows. It is important that no rotation of the pelvis is induced as this tends to increase the uterine torsion. Once the sacrum is aligned, the round ligaments are palpated for tightness, and if tightness is found a gentle traction is applied until the ligament relaxes.
The Webster Technique was once known as a “baby-turning” technique because there is a reported 85% success with breech presentations turning to normal head down after the pelvic structures were aligned. It is important to note that the chiropractor’s only focus is the balancing of the pelvis without any direct involvement with the baby. Dealing directly with the baby is not a chiropractic area and is left to the parents and the birth care provider they choose.
Chiropractic techniques vary from doctor to doctor and most work very well depending upon patient and doctor. Finding the right, or best, doctor can be daunting for patients. It is my opinion that pregnant women looking for chiropractic care only see someone certified in the Webster Technique by the International Chiropractic Pediatric Foundation. A list of certified doctors can be found at that foundation’s website at ICPA4KIDS.com. These doctors not only have been trained and certified in the Webster technique, but they are involved with and support the continuing research and development of techniques and processes which can improve the health of the entire family, beginning with prenatal care.
To sum up, the benefits to a pregnant mom of Prenatal Chiropractic care are:
Subluxations are like cavities in that they are quite common and you generally don’t know if you have one until either they become very serious or you have a check-up by someone qualified to find them. They are worse than cavities in that they can have a significant adverse impact on a person’s health, and in particular on mom’s health, pregnancy, labor, and delivery.
Being tested for subluxation of the spine and pelvis by a Certified Webster Chiropractor might be one of the most important tests a pregnant woman can get.