Pregnancy and Chiropractic

When you become pregnant your body and spine go through a multitude of changes.  These affect every woman differently.  Some women get headaches or migraines others get lower back pain.  As you progress to term the mother’s center of gravity tends to move forward quickly. The natural curve of the spine may either increase or sometimes decrease.  Muscles of the pelvis and hamstrings tighten and cause pain.  The normal lordodic curve of the cervical spine often decreases or straightens causing headaches.

This is a critical time in your baby’s life.  Drugs are out of the question.  So chiropractic care is a great natural choice for back pain relief and headaches during your pregnancy. The chiropractic adjustment reduces stress on the spine and relieves many women’s pain during pregnancy without drugs or x-rays.

A chiropractor has many different methods of adjusting the spine and helping reduce your symptoms.  Some use hands on specific adjustment others may use a device or activator method to reduce your fixations and increase your pain free range of motion.

Choosing a chiropractor for this important time in you and your baby’s life is very important. A sad simple fact is there is no requirement during a chiropractor’s education to adjust or treat pregnant women or babies.  If a chiropractic student is fortunate enough to get to treat a pregnant patient, it is most often a family member.

So take the time to talk to your obstetrician about a chiropractor before choosing one.  Ask your OB if they have any suggestions for a referral or if he or she has any one on one interaction with a chiropractor in your area.  

Experience and board certification are a must.  Look for a chiropractor that holds a post graduate certification and has ten plus years of practice experience.  See if the chiropractor has a good track record of staying in one practice location as well. 

Your baby and your health are extremely important; take the time to research your chiropractic choice.  If you do you will most likely be very pleased with the outcome.

David J. Moreland, DC, CCSP®

Dr. Moreland is certified by ACBSP, he has practiced in the same location since 1995.  He has treated thousands of patients over the years in the St. James MO and Rolla MO area.