Symptoms: Pregnancy
As a mother goes through her journey of pregnancy, there are certain changes she may expect, but others are unexpected. First time mothers and mothers who are on their 10th pregnancy must be respected as a unique individual case. No two pregnancies are alike. The good news is the design of the human body is made to handle the changes, it’s a matter of knowing what to avoid, what to enhance and what to correct. Through specific chiropractic care the development of the mother and baby are both taken into consideration to provide the highest forms of safety, efficacy, relief and optimum health.
As the 40 week countdown forges on, a mother’s body goes through a lot of physical changes to adapt to the growing child. As the baby develops and gets larger the woman’s center of gravity is pulled forwards resulting in increased discomfort and stress on the lower back and various muscles around the pelvis, including the vertebrae, the sacrum, sacroiliac joint, and muscles like the gluteus, the piriformis among many others.
Research shows that chiropractic care helps alleviate symptoms of back pain, sciatic pain, muscle cramp, headaches, shoulder pain, and sleep disturbances. If a mother had a pre-existing condition prior to pregnancy it has the propensity to become aggravated. Not only that, but a hormone released all during the pregnancy, called relaxin, increases ligament laxity in the body allowing the joints to move more, which while being beneficial in the accommodation of the growing baby can also translate into an unstable spine. Continued care throughout the pregnancy is key to avoiding any additional problems.
Studies have also shown chiropractic care to help decrease labor pain and labor time which decreases the stress hormones in the mother as well as providing the baby with a safer delivery. Follow up care post pregnancy is also important as the body goes through another physical and hormonal change and the demands of the new mother are very different.