Pregnancy and Chiropractic Care
A woman’s body is designed to nurture and deliver a healthy baby. Pregnancy is not a disease that needs to be treated, it is a natural process that women are created to be able to do. Chiropractic care will help prepare the body for the best possible birth of the baby. However, many women have difficulty giving birth. The following are the four reasons that women have dystocia, or difficult labor.
1. Abnormalities of the expulsive forces.
- The woman does not have the appropriate muscle contractions, or the dilation is not coordinated with the labor process.
2. Abnormalities of the maternal bony pelvis.
- The ilia (hip bones) and sacrum are not in proper alignment and cannot open the way that they should for delivery
3. Abnormalities of presentation, position, or development of the fetus.
- The baby may be breech, lying sideways, or even slightly tilted.
4. Abnormalities of the soft tissue of the reproductive tract that form an obstacle to fetal descent.
- An example of this would include a tumor blocking the pathway of the baby.
Chiropractic care deals with all of these issues. The expulsive forces are directly controlled by the nervous system. The bony pelvis malposition may be corrected by specific chiropractic adjustments. When the pelvis is in proper alignment, the baby has greater freedom to move into the correct position for birth, and while chiropractic does not “cure” anyone from a tumor, it does allow the body to heal more efficiently.
The Webster Technique
When a baby is not in the correct position for birth, one cause is intrauterine constraint. If the pelvis is misaligned, this creates a kind of twisting on the uterus, preventing freedom of motion of the baby. The Webster Technique is a specific chiropractic adjustment that reduces interference to the nervous system, balances out pelvic muscles and ligaments, which in turn removes constraint to the woman’s uterus and allows the baby to get into the best possible position for birth.
Chiropractic is very safe and effective for all stages of pregnancy. All expectant mothers should be checked for subluxation, you will be glad you did!
Dr. Jerviss is certified in the Webster Technique through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA).