Chiropractic Care During Pregnancy
Visiting a chiropractor while pregnant is considered extremely safe and beneficial to the mother and baby. Chiropractors are trained in working with pregnant women and children of all ages, so visiting a chiropractor while their baby is still in the womb will set them up for the healthiest birth outcome possible.
What Is Chiropractic?
Chiropractic involves more than just making spinal adjustments. Dr. Dee at Healing Hands Chiropractic does checkups to look at a person’s body and determine the best nutritional and activity programs they should be taking part in. She also looks at their body to fix physical misalignments of the spine, and they work to maintain the spinal column, discs, nerves, and bone geometry as a whole. Chiropractors are considered a safe, drug-free solution to main common ailments, and regularly visiting a chiropractor can help a person experience and sustain overall wellness.
What Are The Risks?
There are no known risks to receiving chiropractic care during pregnancy, and many women report outstanding results. This is especially true in cases where their baby was previously breeched position. In fact, the first women to receive the Webster Technique from Dr. Larry Webster in the late 70s originally came to his office with a breeched baby. After starting chiropractic care, her baby returned to the head-down position and she birthed them safely.
The Webster Technique
The Webster Technique is a chiropractic approach taken for pregnant women. It was discovered in the late 1970s by Dr. Larry Webster and has since been taught around the world. The Webster Technique focuses on aligning the pelvis, helping to relieve tension and open up the pelvic muscles to make the baby’s birth as easy as possible for the mother.
It is known that when babies become breeched or otherwise misaligned in the womb, it puts undue stress on their spine. Once birthed, many other daily stressors add to that stress, and can lead to spinal dysfunction. Once the baby is born, mothers are encouraged to continue visiting the chiropractic, both to help in their after-birth recovery and to aid their babies in their vital developmental stages. When babies begin to hold up their own head, sit up on their own, crawl, and walk on their own, all of those things are developmental milestones and will go much smoother if accompanied by regular chiropractic check-ups.
What Is A Chiropractic Check-Up?
While many have the misconception that having a chiropractic check-up always means getting a neck or spine “crack,” in reality, Dr. Dee at Healing Hands Chiropractic does so much more than that. When visiting a Dr. Dee, a client can expect a full review of their medical history and current health status. They will be asked about any medications their currently taking and why, along with medications they’ve taken in the past. She will also review things the client has tried in the past to remedy any ailments their facing, whether that’s physical pain or a multitude of other issues. Dr. Dee will use this information to help customize a treatment plan for the patient.
The treatment plan will include more than just spinal adjustments. In fact, on occasion, spinal adjustments won’t be included at all. Instead, the chiropractor will focus on the body’s whole health to determine what the patient needs. In most cases, they will prescribe a nutrition and activity plan to help them improve their health. As needed, they will make spinal adjustments and often offer heat therapy and other solutions to help relieve tensions in the body.
The Benefits
Chiropractic care during pregnancy can benefit the woman by not only helping open up her pelvis area, but also by encouraging her to look at her current nutritional standards and begin feeding her and her baby better. Nutrition during pregnancy is obviously very important for the mom to remain healthy, but it’s also vital to the baby developing in the womb. Without adequate nutrition, babies are more likely to be born malnourished, premature, or with birth defects. However, if the mom follows the chiropractor’s advice and takes on a recommended nutritional program, the baby will be that much healthier and the mom will recover much sooner after giving birth.
Getting the right nutrition can also help mothers avoid morning sickness and other symptoms that often accompany pregnancy.
In addition to these things, Dr. Dee will also look at the mother’s current exercise and activity. If she is sedentary, the chiropractor will most likely recommend a mild activity plan to get her moving. This is because moving increases blood flow, which is essential during pregnancy. Exercise is also proven to release endorphins in the brain, or the “feel good” hormone, helping expectant mothers overcome mood swings and depression that sometimes accompany pregnancy.
After Birth Care
Once the mother successfully gives birth to her baby, Dr. Dee will likely recommend for her to continue coming in for both her and her newborn child. Chiropractic care that begins at (or before) birth and continues through the child’s developing years will help them grow into healthy young adults. The first few years are vital to a child’s development and overall health, and regular checkups will help keep them healthy and in-alignment.
Healing Hands Chiropractic will offer advice for mothers to aid in the nutrition and activity of their growing baby, and they will also help keep the mom on track with the right nutrition plan to aid in breastfeeding. As the child continues growing, chiropractic care will still be encouraged as the spine can easily become misaligned through the stressors a child will experience as they grow older.
Continued chiropractic care for both the mother and her baby will lead to a healthier child and a healthier relationship between the two. The on-going nutritional and activity advice the chiropractor gives can be vital in ensuring the child grows into a healthy young adult.
Ready to start your chiropractic care? Contact us today!
