Helping you with your pregnancy journey
Chiropractic helping with low back pain in pregnancy
Low back pain (LBP) and pelvic girth pain (PGP) are common in pregnancy and can have a significant impact on the woman's quality of life Current theories suggest that the symptoms may be related to changes in posture during pregnancy (increased lumbar lordosis), and increases in weight and instability of the pelvic girdle due to hormonal changes That's why at Health Wise Chiropractic we will do a spinal and muscle hygiene assessment and a posture examination to see how your lumbar lordosis is structurally and how we can help.
Muscle Pain relief in Pregnancy with Chiropractic
Musculoskeletal pain is extremely common among pregnant women, with approximately 20% of pregnant women experiencing pelvic girdle pain and nearly 4 in 5 having low back pain Common sacroiliac joint dysfunction can often cause substantial pelvic pain and can be relieved with a simple adjustment by a chiropractor in minutes Massage therapy and chiropractic care, including spinal manipulation, are highly safe and effective evidence-based options for pregnant women suffering from mechanical low back and pelvic pain How does the back pain start? Research during the past 15 years has shown that as pregnant women move into their second and third trimesters, their centres of mass shift anteriorly, causing an increase in lumbar lordosis This, coupled with the expanding pelvis, leads to increased activity in the paraspinal musculature, as well as in the rectus femoris, external oblique, psoas major, and adductor longus muscles bilaterally
Neck and Shoulder Pain In Pregnancy
Evidence shows that midthoracic pain at the end of the second trimester might be compensatory to the hyperlordosis ( increase in low back curvature) lower cervical pain or strain increases in frequency as the pregnant woman gains weight and loses the ability to use her core muscles to move herself from side to side at night. She overuses her head as a lever, causing C6 to C7 joint compression. As Chiropractors, we can give better sleeping position advice as well as stretches and manual therapy to help with the joints and muscle changes that occur Research has showed 75% of pregnant patients who received chiropractic care during their pregnancies stated that they found relief from pain.
Chiropractic Care: What does it involve with pregnancy?
Most people ask , is Chiropractic Safe with pregnancy? The research says YES! How we modify treatment is with a pregnancy pillow to allow the adjustments to be performed with comfort OR we change the massage set up to allow the soon to be mum to lay on her side and have pillows for support . Research looked into how successful manual Therapy is for pregnancy . The results showed 4 in 5 had been treated successfully after the 1st treatment. The most common success Chiropractors get are Headaches 97.3% Vomiting 95.9% Dizziness 94.5% Neck Pain 92.9% Insomnia 91.9% Heartburn 88.8% Hyper Salivating 78%
Pregnancy and the Pelvic Floor FAQS
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
01
PELVIC FLOOR- What is it
The bony anatomy of the pelvic girdle consists of 3 bones and 3 joints.
The pelvic floor muscles are comprised mainly of the levator ani muscles with somatic innervation from the lumbosacral plexus.
The bony and muscular pelvis is highly interconnected to the hip and gluteal musculature, which together provide support to the internal organs and core muscles.
Pelvic floor physiology is centered on bladder and bowel control, sexual functioning, and pregnancy.
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Pelvic Floor Dysfunction Prevention
Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) affects about 50% of women undergoing routine gynecological examination .
It is a common condition among parous women and has negative effect on the quality of life in general and especially affecting sexual life and self-confidence.
Main Pelvic organ prolapse risk factors are parity, advancing age, obesity, and others—race and ethnicity, collagen abnormalities, hysterectomy, elevated intraabdominal pressure, and family history
Pelvic-floor dysfunction is a wider term covering the following diagnosis: POP, urodynamic stress incontinence (SUI), detrusor overactivity, bladder oversensitivity, voiding dysfunction, recurrent urinary tract infections, and also symptoms such as anal incontinence, dyspareunia, vaginal laxity, and perineal and pelvic pain
he muscles of the PF consist of superficial muscles including the m. bulbospongiosus, m. ischiocavernosus, the perineal muscles, and external anal sphincter muscle. The deep PF muscles are the levator ani composed of the puborectalis, pubococcygeus, and iliococcygeus. The PF provides anatomical support for the pelvic and abdominal viscera and is involved in urinary, defecatory, and sexual function
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PILATES AND THE PELVIC FLOOR
Research has found that people who undergo pilates during pregnancy were less likely to suffer perineal trauma in spontaneous deliveries
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Exercises For Pelvic Floor - How Chiropractic can help
At Health Wise Chiropractic , we generally use the following for activation and rehabilitation of the pelvic floor in woman :
Pelvic Floor activation exercises that can be done laying or sitting
Transverse Abdominis activation
Pelvic Floor with vertical arm lifts
Pelvic Floor activation in 4 point kneeling
Multifidus activation
Pelvic Floor activation in a squat position
Pelvic Floro Bridge
Peadiatric Care with Chiropractic
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
01
Back Pain in Kids and how Chiropractic can help
The research looked into Chiropractic Peadiatic care and found Chiropractic care with rehabilitative care to be effective in relieving back pain
Chiropractic can include low force techniques for children like our Chiropractic Activator and our drop piece tables designed for safe and effective adjustments for children.
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Constipation in children - How Chiropractic can help
Functional constipation (FC) is a pervasive problem in pediatrics
Functional constipation (FC) is a common pediatric problem accounting for 3 % of visits to a general pediatrician and up to 25 % of visits to a pediatric gastroenterologist in the United States
Increased dietary fibre (96 %) and fluids (90 %) are the two most preferred non-pharmacologic approaches for FC by pediatricians.
At Health Wise Chiropractic, we have always looked at the hip and sacrum to see if there may be any blockages that could be impacting the effects of constipation as well as following the recommendations from the latest research
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Dietary fibre up to the recommended amounts for age and weight can improve stooling patterns.
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Fibre supplements (e.g. glucomannan, green banana mass, cocoa husk) show promise in treating pediatric functional constipation (FC).
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Insufficient evidence exists currently for prebiotics and probiotics in the treatment of pediatric FC.
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Mind-body therapies such as biofeedback therapy are effective for the treatment of constipation with dyssynergia and fecal incontinence.
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Newer technologies such as transcutaneous nerve stimulation may successfully treat some types of FC.
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Headaches in Children and the role of Chiropractors
When researchers looked into kids with headaches, they found Chiropractic spinal manipulation resulted in significantly fewer days with headaches
Who gets headaches as a kid?
Recurrent paediatric headache is common with annual prevalence rates ranging from approximately 5% among 3-year-olds to more than half of the population around puberty
Children with recurrent headaches also report higher levels of stress and depression compared with children without headaches which can lead to severe headache syndrome later on in adult life.
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Colic In Children - What is the role of Chiropractic
Infantile colic affects somewhere between 3% and 40% of infants worldwide
Infants cry for various reasons to express discomfort caused by conditions ranging from benign disorders to life-threatening illnesses.
‘rule of threes’, which defines colic as paroxysms of irritability, fussing or crying lasting ≥3 hours per day on ≥3 days per week for >3 weeks in an otherwise healthy baby aged 2 weeks to 4 months.
However, these criteria have been found to be out of date and impractical to use
The most recent diagnostic criteria, formulated by the Rome IV committee, are recurrent and prolonged periods of crying without an obvious cause or evidence of failure to thrive or illness in infants younger than 5 months.
A number of treatment options exist, which include pharmacological treatments (eg, dicyclomine hydrochloride, cimetropium bromide, simethicone and proton pump inhibitors), probiotics,
complementary therapies (including herbal agents and sucrose),
manual therapies (for example chiropractic, osteopathy and physiotherapy)
Research has found that both probiotics in breastfed infants and manual therapy can reduce crying time. The daily reduction in crying is between 33 and 76 min with manual therapy and between 25 min and 65 min with probiotics in breastfed infants.
References
Conner SN, Trudell AS, Conner CA. Chiropractic Care for the Pregnant Body. Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2021 Sep 1;64(3):602-610. doi: 10.1097/GRF.0000000000000621. PMID: 33882524.
Hall H, Cramer H, Sundberg T, Ward L, Adams J, Moore C, Sibbritt D, Lauche R. The effectiveness of complementary manual therapies for pregnancy-related back and pelvic pain: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore). 2016 Sep;95(38):e4723. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000004723. PMID: 27661020; PMCID: PMC5044890.
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Feria-Ramírez C, Gonzalez-Sanz JD, Molina-Luque R, Molina-Recio G. The Effects of the Pilates Method on Pelvic Floor Injuries during Pregnancy and Childbirth: A Quasi-Experimental Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jun 30;18(13):6995. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18136995. PMID: 34208859; PMCID: PMC8297105.
Romeikienė KE, Bartkevičienė D. Pelvic-Floor Dysfunction Prevention in Prepartum and Postpartum Periods. Medicina (Kaunas). 2021 Apr 16;57(4):387. doi: 10.3390/medicina57040387. PMID: 33923810; PMCID: PMC8073097
van Reijn-Baggen DA, Han-Geurts IJM, Voorham-van der Zalm PJ, Pelger RCM, Hagenaars-van Miert CHAC, Laan ETM. Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy for Pelvic Floor Hypertonicity: A Systematic Review of Treatment Efficacy. Sex Med Rev. 2022 Apr;10(2):209-230. doi: 10.1016/j.sxmr.2021.03.002. Epub 2021 Jun 12. PMID: 34127429..
Borggren CL. Pregnancy and chiropractic: a narrative review of the literature. J Chiropr Med. 2007 Jun;6(2):70-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jcme.2007.04.004. PMID: 19674697; PMCID: PMC2647084.
Ellwood J, Draper-Rodi J, Carnes D. Comparison of common interventions for the treatment of infantile colic: a systematic review of reviews and guidelines. BMJ Open. 2020 Feb 25;10(2):e035405. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035405. PMID: 32102827; PMCID: PMC7202698.
Lynge S, Dissing KB, Vach W, Christensen HW, Hestbaek L. Effectiveness of chiropractic manipulation versus sham manipulation for recurrent headaches in children aged 7-14 years - a randomised clinical trial. Chiropr Man Therap. 2021 Jan 7;29(1):1. doi: 10.1186/s12998-020-00360-3. PMID: 33413519; PMCID: PMC7792176.
Santucci NR, Chogle A, Leiby A, Mascarenhas M, Borlack RE, Lee A, Perez M, Russell A, Yeh AM. Non-pharmacologic approach to pediatric constipation. Complement Ther Med. 2021 Jun;59:102711. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2021.102711. Epub 2021 Mar 15. PMID: 33737146.
Corso M, Cancelliere C, Mior S, Taylor-Vaisey A, Côté P. The safety of spinal manipulative therapy in children under 10 years: a rapid review. Chiropr Man Therap. 2020 Feb 25;28(1):12. doi: 10.1186/s12998-020-0299-y. PMID: 32093727; PMCID: PMC7041232.
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