Chiropractic and Pregnancy
Pregnancy is a natural process for all women. The expecting mother should feel as little discomfort during her pregnancy as possible. During pregnancy the mother will release a series of hormones into the body enabling the body to deal with the growing baby. Many of these hormones act on the soft connective tissues including muscles, ligaments and skin allowing these structures to become more lax and, in doing so, allowing the baby to grow.
The problem that can ensue in many pregnant women is that all the muscles and ligaments in the body are affected by hormones, not just the areas around the abdomen and pelvis. This affects the main stabilizing structures of the spine such as muscles and ligaments. When these become more lax due to these hormonal changes there can be less stability in the spine and an increased chance for a change in the mechanics and function.
Also, it is important to remember that there maybe a large increase in the curve of the lumbar spine (lower back). This occurs to compensate for the increased weight at the front of the body due to the pregnancy. Also, in order to maintain the body's centre of gravity the mother naturally arches her lower back more. In doing so, this increases the pressure on the discs, joints, nerves and muscles in the lower back and can potentially lead to symptoms such as lower back pain.
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Structural
changes during pregnancy
The
birth canal
The
birth canal is made up of the 2 identical pelvic bones.
The 2 pelvic bones make 3 distinctive joints that
articulate with each other to form the pelvis as one.
As in any joint in the human body, these joints are
designed to move when the body needs them to.
As the growing baby gets bigger, it puts an increased amount of stress on these three joints. This increased stress on the sacroiliac joints (seen either side of the spine in the diagram) can lead to irritation and dysfunction.(seen either side of
the spine in the diagram).
This increased stress and dysfunction can lead to two main problems. Firstly, these joints have large amounts of pain receptors (nociceptors) situated in and around them so misalignment/restriction can contribute to lower back, buttock and groin pain. Secondly, pelvic changes can also help to change the shape of the circular birth canal and possibly decrease the canals dimensions. This can result in the new born baby having a smaller or tighter opening to move through during birth. If this leads to problems with delivery more force or instruments are often required.
How
can chiropractic help?
Your chiropractor’s main focus with pregnancy is to examine and discover what position and dysfunction maybe occurring in the mother’s spine and pelvis. Your chiropractor through gentle/comfortable adjustments can help to correct any dysfunction or misalignment, allowing the pelvis to be in its optimum position for your baby to move through. Research has shown that, due to a correctly aligned pelvis and an optimal birth canal size, pregnant woman who are under chiropractic care during their pregnancy experience less discomfort during delivery and can expect up to a 39% reduction in labour time.
