Pregnancy and Chiropractic
Pregnancy is all about creating the best environment within yourself for your baby to grow and develop. Regular chiropractic care throughout your pregnancy is a great way of helping your body adapt to the normal stresses of daily life with the added stress of pregnancy. Chiropractic care throughout pregnancy restores balance to the pelvic muscles and ligaments and therefore leads to safer and easier deliveries for both mum and baby. Additionally, chiropractic adjustments allow the uterus to function at its maximum potential.
A large number of women experience pain and discomfort during pregnancy. This is due to the rapid growth of their baby and the physiological changes that their body undergoes during pregnancy.
Conditions that are common during pregnancy and are effectively treated with chiropractic care are:
- Sciatica
- Lower back pain
- Symphysis pubis pain
- Headaches
- Neck pain
- Leg aches
- Ligament pain
- Pelvic problems
- Breech presentation (Webster Technique)
Pain is not the only reason one should visit a chiropractor during pregnancy. Research has proven that women that see a chiropractor during their pregnancy have a safer, faster labour and recover quicker following childbirth, compared to those who did not undergo any chiropractic care.
Babies
The birthing process, even in straightforward deliveries, is an ordeal that can dramatically impact on a new infant’s spinal health. The typical way that they express this to you is through persistent crying, long periods of not settling, constipation or episodes of reflux or vomiting after feeding.
Using gentle fingertip pressure a newborn spine and cranium can be lightly adjusted to ensure that birth trauma doesn’t persist into child and adult life.
In many cases the change is immediate and there is nothing more satisfying than seeing an unsettled child rest as peacefully as it can. Mum's and Dad's usually appreciate this change as well.
Children and Chiropractic
Children are susceptible to trauma to their spines from various activities, such as learning to hold the head upright, crawling, learning to walk, parental handling and many other newly learned activities. As we know, children also have numerous falls and minor accidents that affect their spine. These microtraumas have a big impact in their future development.
These microtraumas cause misalignments in the spine which can affect your child's development, coordination and general health. Although symptoms such as pain are rarely seen in children, injury to the nervous system can have a lifetime of damaging effects.
All children should have regularly chiropractic check ups, just like dental check ups, but here are some indications that your child may be in particular need of chiropractic care:
- Difficult and/or long birth
- Caesarean section birth
- Difficulty breastfeeding
- Constant arching backwards
- Colic
- Reflux
- Unsettled periods
- Poor sleep
- Asthma
- Bed wetting
- ADHD
- Constipation
- Scoliosis
- Developmental issues
Remember "As the twig is bent & so grows the tree"