There are many different phases of chiropractic care, but I want to let people know that chiropractic care is chiropractic care. And it’s the same if you’re an adult or a child. It’s about detecting and removing misalignments or what we call vertebral subluxations. That basically happens when there’s stress, tension, poor posture, accidents, and falls that will create misalignments, where the bones or the vertebrae move out of their normal position with the vertebrae above and below and start to put pressure on those delicate spinal nerves.
The anatomy of the body is such that the spine is designed to move, and because it’s designed to move, sometimes those vertebrae can slip out of their normal position and start irritating a nerve. Now, if you irritate a nerve, it changes the way the body messages. And there are messages constantly going from the brain to the body to the end user, which is the tissue cell, and then the tissue cell sends information back to the brain. So, the brain knows what’s going on at all times in the body.
Now, regular chiropractic care is important. And I maintain that if you have a spine, you need a chiropractor. Just like if you have teeth, you need a dentist. No one ever questions the fact that they should be brushing their teeth and flossing. And everyone goes to the dentist whether their teeth hurt or not. I don’t know anyone who wakes up in the morning and says, “Gee, my teeth don’t hurt. Screw it, I’m not going to the dentist.” They all go and they clean their teeth. Your spine is made of the same stuff, and it can degenerate in a similar fashion.
So, there is the preparatory phase before a mom gets pregnant. Sometimes moms have trouble getting pregnant. And some people actually credit their chiropractors. I hate the way they say it, but they say, “Oh, my chiropractor got me pregnant.” But he didn’t. What he did was he worked on your nervous system. Because again, your body has all these cycles that regulate. You’ve got your menstrual cycle, and those hormonal levels are all neuroregulated. So, if there’s interference and stress on the nervous system, well, maybe the quantities might be off of the hormonal balance. And the hormones, the acidity of the body, and what’s going on inside the vagina have to be perfect for them to be successful in getting pregnant. So sometimes if there’s dysregulation in the mom’s body hormonally or cyclically, well then, they might have trouble getting pregnant.
Then once they’re pregnant, the obvious part, which we’ve talked about on a bunch of blogs before, is that the center of gravity starts to shift forward. There are different hormones. Their body is changing, they’re gaining weight. And then as you gain weight, that puts stress on the spine. That can create those misalignments, and moms can have more pain, sciatica, and different things.
Then there’s the birthing phase. When we apply the Webster technique correctly, we align the pelvis, and we align the sacroiliac joints. We make sure that the round ligament and the uterosacral ligaments are relaxed, so the baby can simply find the position that it’s best for it to come down the birth canal and be birthed. All of the muscular contractions that the body does and the uterus does, are all controlled by that nerve system. When the body is optimized and working well, and the nerve system connections are strong, usually those births are relatively uncomplicated.
After the birth phase is postpartum. Mom’s orientation to the world changes. They’re constantly bent over, they’re looking down. They’re breastfeeding, they’re looking down at the baby. They’re changing, they’re looking down. They’re cleaning up after the baby. So now they start to get neck pain, and they’re lifting and carrying and wearing the baby, which can contribute to back pain. Postpartum is a whole new different thing. There are different postures. They’re constantly with the baby. They might be co-sleeping and sleeping in odd positions. All these things can change or affect the alignment of the spine negatively, which then can create more nerve interference and create more problems. So, at every stage of growth and development, every stage of pregnancy, a person always benefits from being in proper alignment with less pressure on the nerve system. That’s just how the body works.
I’m proud to be a chiropractor, and I’m proud to say that we’ve worked with hundreds of moms over the past few decades by helping them achieve more natural births and have vibrant, beautiful kids. And doing it naturally without drugs and surgery. That’s the most important thing. I cannot tell you how much fear is poured into my moms during their pregnancy from the OB-GYNs, that there’s not enough fluid, you have too much sugar, this is too high, this is too low. And the moms come to me in a constant state of worry.
I think one of the biggest services I provide is talking them down off the ledge and letting them know that these are all common things that happen during pregnancy, and your body’s designed to do this. You got this. And reminding them of that is one of the biggest roles I have. When the moms are more relaxed, there’s less of the stress hormones, and it’s just easier to deliver those kids and easier to live an active, healthy, drug-free life.
Photo Credit: Rido81/Bigstockphoto.com
Dr. Gregg D. Rubinstein, D.C., is a Midtown Manhattan chiropractor with over 30 years of experience providing customized chiropractic treatment services to a wide range of clients in the Midtown Manhattan/West New York City area. Dr. Gregg Rubinstein and 57th Street Chiropractic can be reached at (212) 977-7094 and is located at 119 West 57th St. in New York, NY.
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