Chiropractic can decrease your stress!

Pregnancy is often one of the happiest times in a woman’s life, but it can be difficult to achieve, and even for those who do get pregnant easily, it can be a stressful and difficult time. Chiropractic is an ideal means of improving fertility as well as alleviating the pain and discomfort of many pregnancy symptoms and potential complications.  Chiropractic adjustments will realign the pelvis and take the stress off of those tissues and joints.

Many women become frustrated and depressed at failed efforts to become pregnant. If you aren’t sure where to turn next and think you’ve exhausted every fertility option out there, chiropractic care may be the solution to your problems. If your nervous system isn’t functioning properly, a number of fertility issues can result. The tiny nerves that come out of the spine around the pelvis interact with the uterus and ovaries. Chiropractic will decrease your stress. If the pelvis is misaligned, it can put pressure on those nerves and cause dysfunction.

Undergoing pre-conception chiropractic care can improve your body’s health, allow for better uterine function and more regular menstruation. This will help to better prepare your body to receive a baby, which will in turn increase your chances for conception and for maintaining a healthy pregnancy.

During pregnancy, a routine of regular and consistent chiropractic care can improve your coordination, flexibility, strength and balance. This can all ease the physical burden of carrying a baby and make for a more pleasant pregnancy experience. Keeping your spine and pelvis properly aligned will allow the uterus to sit in the pelvic cavity without impingement. It can also alleviate aches, swelling, pain, and morning sickness.

Mothers who maintain a chiropractic regimen during pregnancy often find that their experience in labor is less difficult, their contractions reliably timed and the delivery easier and shorter than those who do not visit their local Atlanta chiropractor. Additionally, chiropractic care during pregnancy reduces the likelihood of a baby in the breech position, which can lead to discomfort and complications. Furthermore, if the baby is in this breech position, there is an 87.2% chance it will have to be delivered by Cesarean. If the pelvis is misaligned, it can interfere with the growth and placement of the uterus, reducing the amount of room the baby has to grow with its head down. A tighter uterus forces the baby to stay head up, or breech, which can lead to various problems, including inhibiting of proper growth and an increased likelihood of delivery by Caesarian. If a baby is already in a breech presentation late in pregnancy, chiropractic adjustments and the Webster Turning Technique performed by Dr. Jennifer Good can help the baby get into and maintain the ideal birthing position with its head down.

Following the birth, chiropractic adjustment can help to correct distortion of the pelvis and restore energy and healthy body function in the long term.

Breech Presentation and Websters Turning Technique

The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics reported in the July/August 2002 issue that there was an 82% success rate of babies turning head down when doctors of chiropractic used the Webster Technique.  Furthermore, the results from the study suggest that it may be beneficial to perform Webster Technique as early as the 8th month of pregnancy when a woman has a breech position.

What is Breech Presentation?

Breech presentation is when the baby’s placement in the uterus is head up instead of head down. This creates complications for the mother, including a likelihood that the baby will have to be delivered via Cesarean.

Why does this happen?

One reason this can happen is explained with anatomy and biomechanics. The uterus is physically attached to the pelvis and sacrum by way of the uterosacral ligaments behind the uterus and the round ligaments in front and the broad ligaments on each side.  During pregnancy, the increased physical loads on the spine and the presence of the hormone relaxin in soft tissues make it easy for the sacrum and pelvic bones to shift and become misaligned.  If the pelvis is misaligned, it can interfere with the growth and placement of the uterus, reducing the amount of room the baby has to grow with its head down.  A tighter uterus forces the baby to stay head up.  If a is already in a breech presentation late in pregnancy, chiropractic adjustments and the Webster Turning Technique performed by Dr. Jennifer Good can help the baby get into, and maintain the ideal birthing position with its head down.  Websters Turning Technique is a low force, very specific adjustment to realign the pelvis and ligaments. It is very comfortable for the mother.  Dr. Jennifer Good has had many success stories in helping babies turn out the breech presentation.

We don’t often think about how traumatic it is to be born, but babies experience a number of physical complications during the process of entering the world. Many of these issues arise from spinal misalignment that occurred during the birthing process, including difficulty with breastfeeding, asthma, colic, digestive problems and even behavioral issues which result from pain, discomfort and sub-optimal nervous response.

Pediatric chiropractic care can improve your child’s functions, helping to improve mobility, digestion and even increase immune system responsiveness. This is done through correcting spinal misalignments which increase nervous system function and communication and can reduce the risk for illness and infant health disorders.