Chiropractic Care Can Be Vital for a Healthy Pregnancy

Chiropractic for a Healthy Pregnancy

Like many women throughout pregnancy, you are constantly thinking about what routine steps you can take to ensure both you and your baby are healthy and ready for a smooth delivery. At the same time, you probably feel – perhaps even worry – that there is something more you can do.

Every pregnancy book and OB/GYN you speak to will tell you that to feel balanced (on the inside anyways) you should be regularly keeping up with some key things each day. They tell you to eat wholesome and fresh foods that includes lots of vegetables and fruits, whole grains, and lean proteins to keep you energized. To drink lots of water and less caffeine, too cut back on overly processed foods that make those mood swings even worse, and items with high salt content that won’t help those swollen legs and feet. To stay fit and improve your sleep with consistent exercise through low impact activities such as daily walks, pregnancy yoga, and dance. And to keep a strong support system around you, while also finding a way to manage the stresses of daily lifeAll of that is true, of course, but there is one more vital ingredient to maintaining a balanced and healthy pregnancy that you might be missing: chiropractic care.

At 1st Step Family Wellness in Kirkwood, we understand that you want the best possible care for you and your baby; and we know that you may need to discover for yourself how chiropractic care throughout pregnancy can be beneficial to you.

Why Chiropractic Care During Pregnancy?

When you trust both your mind and body, you are truly capable of accomplishing seemingly impossible feats. This is especially true for the expectant and birthing mother, who can fully believe and experience a natural and empowering birth when she trusts that her body was built for, and is ready to bring new life into the world. One step towards embodying a sense of confidence and acquiescence throughout pregnancy, birth, and beyond, is to ensure that your physical self is functioning and aligned properly through the assistance of chiropractic care.

Pregnancy is notorious for causing changes throughout your body’s form and shape, which also naturally affects the musculoskeletal system. Many women tend to experience lower back pain and pelvic discomfort as their spine seeks to support the body’s growth. They also face more pliable and fragile muscles, ligaments, cartilage, and bones that can lead to increased displacement, fixation, and potential complications during delivery. Experiencing these physical changes and discomforts additionally has a direct affect on the mother and baby’s mental health, because physical imbalances also create miscommunication between the nerves, blood flow, and brain functionality.

Chiropractic care has been proven to help reduce these risks, such as back pain and even morning sickness; while also significantly reducing average labor times and the length of the postpartum healing process.

The Benefits of Chiropractic Care While Pregnant

In addition to the above, studies have shown that chiropractic care has several intrinsic benefits to both mother and baby.

For expectant mothers, chiropractic care has been shown to reduce interfering stressors within the nervous system, which not only directly impacts the functioning of the rest of her body, but also the development of the baby. Chiropractic helps realign the pelvis to allow the baby to be in the best possible position for an easier labor and delivery. Receiving regular chiropractic care through the whole pregnancy can prevent the baby being in a breech position, as well as, reduce or completely eliminate discomfort.

This includes the realignment of the spine and pelvic area. This can help release and balance her pelvic muscles, ligaments, and bones to prepare her body for taking on a more natural and easier birth. Such also reduces the amount of torsion to the woman’s uterus, which may help with the intensity of abdominal pain during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and reduce the risky need for greater medical intervention.

For baby, chiropractic care also allows for improved development throughout pregnancy as the mother’s nervous system becomes more balanced and less stressed. Realignment of the spine and reduced twisting of the uterus allows the baby to have more room for physical growth, and increases blood flow that allows for greater brain development. Overall, chiropractic care throughout pregnancy ensures that baby will have a comfortable, safe, and strong in-utero environment that then will directly translate to a healthy and vibrant life outside of the womb.

How We Can Help

At First Step Family Wellness, we seek to provide our patients with the utmost support, practical skills, and up-to-date knowledge about how to have a healthy pregnancy and natural birth. Take it from our patients of how prenatal chiropractic care helped improve their pregnancy and well-being:

“32 weeks along with my third pregnancy and it has been pain free with two monthly prenatal visits with Dr. Jeanne a month. She has a holistic minded background so I take myself and little girls there for alternative medicine. She is the only person I trust to adjust my babies!!” ~Jill V.

 

“At 36 weeks pregnant I was told that our baby was breech and that there was a very minimal chance that it would turn on its own. I was upset because I really wanted to have a natural, vaginal delivery. After a failed attempt at an external version I decided to call a chiropractor. I wanted to be sure that we exhausted all possibilities before having a C-section. After seeing Dr. Jeanne for three sessions, our baby flipped! I was able to have a vaginal delivery and we are so grateful for her help!” ~ Katie S.

As you can see, we want to ensure that you have a happy and safe pregnancy; which includes giving you the right tools that will allow you to make the best possible informed decisions for you and your baby. Such includes a weekly breastfeeding group in Kirkwood, Missouri; check out the 1st Step Family Wellness website to learn more about our services. Visit our Facebook page to see regular updates about 1st Step Family Wellness and receive chances to win fun and healthy prizes that will benefit the whole family, or check back at our blog frequently, where you will find informative articles from Dr. Jeanne and Dr. Ryan Sandheinrich about how to keep your growing family happy and healthy all year round.

Still have questions about how chiropractic care can improve the health of your pregnancy? Give us a call today at 314.805.7837, and schedule an appointment to see what options are right for you and your baby.