Prenatal Chiropractic Care

For the past few months, I've been seeing a prenatal chiropractor.  It started when I slipped down the stairs in January and landed on my butt pretty hard, which eventually caused pain in my upper left shoulder.  Chiropractic care, like massage and acupuncture, are wonderful natural healing tools that people would benefit from making them a part of their regular routine.  I also discovered that chiropractic care is especially beneficial to pregnant women.

My chiropractor explained the practice as the process of aligning the spine in order to allow the nerves to transmit signals from the brain to various muscles and parts of the body more effectively.  I translated that to basically mean that chiropractic care deals with energy flow.  A misaligned spine does not allow for optimal energy flow from the brain to other parts of the body.  I was surprised that her office also specializes in chiropractic care for babies and children.  She explained that the process of birth and the first few years of life can have a great impact on the spine, and that if not corrected by a certain age, some things are not as adjustable as an adult.  I do remember learning in school about a point in someone's life where their bone structure solidifies or sets in.  I am paraphrasing all of this from our first conversation months ago, but this is the gist of it.

According to AmericanPregnancy.org:

When the pelvis is misaligned it may reduce the amount of room available for the developing baby. This restriction is called intrauterine constraint. A misaligned pelvis may also make it difficult for the baby to get into the best possible position for delivery. This can affect the mother's ability to have a natural, non-invasive birth. Breech and posterior positions can interfere with the natural ease of labor and lead to interventions such as c-sections.

Keeping the spine aligned helps the systems of the body to operate more effectively, and this is especially important during pregnancy.   It can help lessen back pain during pregnancy as the baby grows in size. It can help with nausea.  It can make the birth quicker and easier and help prevent a c-section.   My chiropractor also mentioned that an aligned spine allows the ligaments on both sides of the belly stretch to the same size, so that the belly is not lopsided.  She even mentioned that she has been called to make adjustments during birth times to help a labor that has stopped progress.

I had made an appointment to prevent a fall from turning into chronic pain.  What I didn't know was that I was embarking on a journey that would help my body have a better pregnancy and me have a better birth time. And, knowledge that helps me bring Lily into the chiropractor from birth, so that she has a healthier life, too.