Along with a healthy diet, exercise and avoiding drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, chiropractic care is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your baby. Chiropractic care provides many things essential to a healthy pregnancy and delivery including a flexible and balanced spine, hips and pelvis, internal organs without postural stress and a body that is free from nerve stress.

"So many women who received (chiropractic) care during pregnancy say to us: ‘How in the world do other women get through pregnancy without adjustments?’" recalls Carol Phillips, a Doctor of Chiropractic who specializes in care of pregnant and birthing mothers.

Any mother would agree, as pregnant women you need to have your body as strong and healthy as possible in order to handle the challenge of pregnancy and birth. Also it is essential to have all of your organ systems, especially reproductive organs the uterus, ovaries and related organs, functioning properly. If the body structure causes even the tiniest nerve interference to any of your organ systems it could be harmful to the mother or developing fetus. How can this be avoided? Your chiropractor examines your spinal column for spine imbalances or distortions that can cause stress on your nerves called subluxations. Subluxations affect the functions of your entire body. A chiropractic adjustment will correct the subluxation and improve functions.

Drugless Medical Care

Do you need another reason for periodic chiropractic adjustments during pregnancy? Chiropractic care is drug-free. Any kind of drug, prescription or over-the-counter, can harm the fetus’s development. Safe drugs do not exist. Most medications have been linked to malformations of the fetus and fetal damage.

"It is… virtually impossible to specify any drug that will not result in an increased frequency of congenital malformations when administered, in a certain dose to a sufficiently large panel of different laboratory animals." (1)

During pregnancy, no drugs should be prescribed without first weighing the maternal need against the risk of fetal damage. (2) Some substances which can cause damage to both mother and baby are antibiotics, alcohol, cigarettes, aspirin, cocaine or marijuana and even cold and flu medication or cough syrup have been known to cause fetal damage. (3)

Dangers of Diagnostic Procedures

Another potential cause of damage is invasive diagnostic procedures. They should be avoided whenever possible. According to Robert Mendelsohn, MD women should "stay away from X-rays, diagnostic ultrasound, doctor-prescribed medication, and every other form of dangerous obstetrical intervention." (4)

Ultrasound has not been proven to be safe since no proper studies have been done to determine whether the developing fetus’ exposure will effect growth and development. (5) Ultrasound has been associated with a symptom of possible neurological damage. (6) What is the value of electronic monitoring of the fetus? This has come into serious question based on safety and efficacy concerns. (7)

How can Chiropractic Help?

Pregnant patients have reported many positive benefits. Chiropractic care patients have had results with back pain, (8) back labor, (9) and premature contractions. (10) Other professions have seen that spinal adjustments may help control vomiting during pregnancy, produce healthier infants, help maintain pregnancy and deliver full-term infants with ease. (11)

In one woman’s case the results were miraculous. After experiencing premature contractions (at 32 weeks) and inflamed ovaries due to a severe case of endometriosis, she was told she would never carry a child to term. She received a chiropractic adjustment at the hospital at the time and then continued to receive chiropractic care. Her delivery at 40 weeks was a normal labor. (12)

Healthcare professionals and chiropractors have shown that "manipulation can be of great value in normalizing body functions of women with problems of pregnancy such as toxemia" (13) and "manipulative therapy… shortens labor by 50 to 60% and lessens medication requirement by at least 50%. Postpartum depression is a rarity in patients receiving…manipulative therapy." (14)

Webster Breech Technique

Chiropractic care in the pre-natal months has been able to correct breech presentations when the baby isn’t in the correct position for birth. The Webster Breech Technique, developed by Larry Webster, DC, relaxes the uterus, permitting the baby to naturally turn into the correct position. It has been extremely successful in correcting breech positions. Of 82 certified nurse-midwives 93.9% reported sending patients to alternative health care providers and 57.3% referred women to chiropractors. (15)

Is it safe for both mother and child to have chiropractic care during pregnancy?

Yes. Not only is it a very safe, natural form of healthcare but it is very important care for both. Your chiropractor has been specially trained to adjust spines of pregnant women and their adjusting table with have specific modifications for the later months of their pregnancy.

What if I feel ok during my pregnancy? Do I have to have a problem to see a chiropractor?

Chiropractic care during pregnancy should be used as preventative medicine. You should have periodic spinal checkups as often as your weight checkups.

How late into my pregnancy can I get an adjustment?

Some women have been adjusted even during labor. During special cases chiropractors have been called upon when the labor has stopped prematurely. Labor resumed just like normal immediately following the adjustment.

Can chiropractic care help postpartum depression?

The positive effects from chiropractic care, especially on personalities and emotional stress has been shown for many years. One medical journal notes that "postpartum depression is a rarity in patients receiving…manipulative therapy." (16)

Can my baby receive chiropractic care?

Yes. Even infants who are a few hours old have been given spinal exams and, if needed, adjustments.

Women have been turning to the natural, safe, drug-free, non-surgical approach of chiropractic for centuries. Under chiropractic care many women have found help for their worst gynecological problems such as PMS, menstrual discomfort, cramps, pain, bloating, menopause symptoms, poor sexual response, infertility and more.

In order to have a healthy reproductive system, a woman’s ovaries, uterus, oviducts (tubes), cervix, glands, vagina, and other structures must have a strong nerve supply from the brain and spinal cord. Optimal functioning of other organs is also essential to reproductive health. The liver, for example, produces hormones and chemicals vital to proper sexual health. Chiropractors release vertebral subluxations, a severe form of stress which locks up the body. A vertebral subluxation can affect your brain, spinal cord, nerves, joints, ligaments, muscles, internal organs, and other tissues causing disturbed body function, lack of energy, lowered resistance to disease, loss of height, and premature aging. For a woman, these subluxations can cause dysfunction in her sexual organs leading to hormone and body chemistry changes. Structurally, the physical relationship between the ovaries, tubes, uterus and other body structures may be altered and cause dysfunction and decline in sexual health.

Over 600,000 American women get hysterectomy’s each year, for various gynecological problems.(17) According to the National Uterine Fibroid Association, for every 10,000 operations performed 11 women die. (18) That’s over 650 women a year! "More than 90% of hysterectomies are unnecessary," writes Stanley West, MD, "Worse, the surgery can have long-lasting physical, emotional, and sexual consequences that may undermine…health and well-being." (19)

Most women have not been educated about the changes that happen after a hysterectomy. Even doctors are often not aware of post-hysterectomy problems. Women experience a widening of the hip and pelvis, which increase their pant and skirt size up to two sizes and cause changes in the entire skeleton resulting in lower back, knee, and hip pain. In addition her symptoms might include loss of stamina, loss of libido, urinary incontinence, decreased sexual response, cold feet and toes, bowel problems, diminished sensations from the waist down, bone and joint pain, depression, and memory loss. One doctor tells it plainly: "I was taught that castration (removal of the ovaries) does not affect a woman’s sexuality, but women tell quite a different story." (20)

Nora W. Coffey is the president of the Hysterectomy Education Resources and Services Foundation (HERS), she states that "these operations are almost always unnecessary." Her foundation has referred 16,000 women who were told they needed a hysterectomy. "98% were told they did not need a hysterectomy. They were treated medically or by reconstructive surgery, and quite often no treatment was needed." "Hysterecomy should have been abandoned in the Dark Ages," Coffey concluded. (21)

Synthetic Hormone Replacement Therapy is a potentially dangerous drug therapy for women. Some doctors consider menopause a disease instead of a normal physiologic state and therefore prescribe the regiment. "If you must go to a doctor, remember that you are receiving experimental drugs whose side effects become more visible year after year," says Robert Mendelsohn, MD.(22) Sadly, the visible effects from hormone replacement therapy are increased incidence of breast cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, dementia, and stroke among women who take these drugs. (23)

Women suffering from gynecological problems have turned to chiropractic care for infertility, pelvic pain, irritability, depression, hot flashes, back and joint pain, headache, fatigue, lack of menstrual function, (23>25)and other conditions.(26>29) "Various disturbances in pelvic organ function have been successfully managed by chiropractic…symptoms (include) bladder, bowel, gynecologic, and sexual dysfunction," states one researcher.(30) For any woman suffering from gynecological problems, a chiropractic exam is vital to restore reproductive health.

A November 7, 2001 report on a study conducted by the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association showed that a chiropractic technique known as the "Webster Breech Turning Technique" was statistically very successful in resolving breech pregnancies without medical procedures.  A Breech pregnancy is when the baby is not properly positioned in the mother's womb near the date for delivery.  If the baby is not positioned head-first, the delivery may be difficult or even dangerous for both the mother and child.

This chiropractic technique was created by the late Dr. Larry Webster, who was affectionately known as "The grandfather of chiropractic pediatrics."  The study entailed surveying members of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, Inc (ICPA - www.icpa4kids.com) throughout the United States and Canada.  The survey noted that there were a reported 112 cases of breech recorded by the chiropractors.  Of these, the results were 102 positive resolutions.  This means that in 102 of 112 cases the baby turned properly after the chiropractic procedure was performed. This represents a success rate of almost 92%!

The conclusions of this study clearly stated,  "When successful, the Webster Technique avoids the costs and/or risks of either, ECV, cesarean section or vaginal trial of breech.  In view of these findings the Webster Technique deserves serious consideration in the health care management of expectant mothers exhibiting adverse fetal presentation."

- www.chiropracticresearch.org