Congratulations on becoming an expectant parent. 

Changes during pregnancy

As your uterus expands, the extra weight drags your centre of gravity forward and your spine compensates by enlarging your lumbar lordosis. Your thoracic kyphosis also then increases to offset your lumbar curve changes. 

A combination of the increased curves and increased levels of relaxin and elastin in your system creates extra ligament laxity, predisposing your joints and nerves to damage. 

These postural and hormonal changes lead to spinal and pelvic misalignments which cause the low and mid back pain many women suffer during pregnancy. 

These same changes may also highlight an area that was not functioning effectively prior to pregnancy with increased strain now placed upon them. 

Spinal and pelvic misalignments during pregnancy can not only lead to pain for the mother but can also create uneven tension in the uterus, reducing available space for a baby to grow and move, and compromise optimal foetal positioning. 

Later in pregnancy, this can hinder proper spinal development of the baby and in rare circumstances may lead to conditions such as congenital torticollis. 

Changes during labour

To give birth to your baby, several changes need to occur in your pelvis during labour. Your sacroiliac joints and your pubic symphysis need to separate, and your sacrum needs to be able to swing back out of the way. 

These changes occur to create as much space as possible in the birth canal (you want to make sure you have every millimetre possible). 

If one of the joints in your pelvis or low back is subluxated, it can lead to pain in your low back or down your legs, uneven tightness in your pelvic stabilising muscles. This may increase difficulty in labour because the pelvis will not be able to open as much as is needed. 

Chiropractic for expecting mothers 

Receiving regular chiropractic care throughout your pregnancy has many benefits. Not only can we help you manage any aches and pains you may get during pregnancy, but research has shown that regular chiropractic during pregnancy can:

• Help optimise baby position 
• Reduce pain during labour
• Decrease duration of labour
• Reduce the chances of medical interventions
• Improve foetal development

Chiropractic for babies 

Everybody wishes their baby to be healthy and happy. A healthy nervous system in a child is essential for their physical, social, emotional and behavioural development. Trauma such as during the birthing process or accidents at home can misalign their tiny spine, which hinders proper growth. Common conditions in babies are breastfeeding difficulties, plagiocephaly (mis-shapen head), sleeping difficulty and irritable babies. Talk to your Gonstead Chiropractor today if your baby’s health concerns you, we would love to help!

Birth is as hard on your baby as it is on you. Even with a “natural” birth babies get squeezed, twisted, and need to wriggle through a bony pelvis. That’s why it’s easy to see why so many babies have spinal misalignments and some degree of cervical strain after birth. 

The baby’s position in the uterus and intrauterine stress throughout the pregnancy and the natural birth process can also compound to produce joint and nerve irritation. For assisted delivery and caesarean delivery, the incidences of spinal problems are higher.  

Left untreated, this may lead to the development of nerve dysfunction that can make your child more susceptible to so called “normal” conditions like:

• Trouble feeding
• Trouble settling/sleeping
• Breathing weakness
• Digestive problems (colic and reflux)
• Irritability
• Infections in the ears, nose, and throat

These are common problems but that does not make them normal. Many parents find that chiropractic care has helped to alleviate these problems. 

More serious conditions include: 

• Plagiocephaly (skull malformation)
• Balance and coordination problems
• Enuresis (bedwetting)
• Torticollis
• Developmental delay

Chiropractic adjustments for infants are very different to those used on adults. The chiropractor will usually use their fingertips to adjust with a very light, gentle “eyeball” pressure. It is a very safe form of treatment for many childhood conditions and as most of your child’s neurological development occurs in their first year, it’s therefore even more important to maximise their nerve function during this period. 

Twenge, J.M. and Campbell, W.K. (2018) ‘Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents: Evidence from a population-based study’, Preventive Medicine Reports, 12, pp. 271–283. doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2018.10.003.