Deb Flashenberg, Founder and Director of the Prenatal Yoga Center in New York City: I would say one of the best things we can do using prenatal yoga to have an easier pregnancy is we look at what kind of issue the student has that day. So, if they’re having carpal tunnel, we can add shoulder issues to that. If they’re having lower back, we can address lower back issues. So, it’s making the person more comfortable by addressing their particular aches and pains.
We can also think about how prenatal yoga can help with the birth, because we can work on creating balance in the pelvis, the pelvic ligaments. We can try to balance the uterus, and when all of these things are balanced, it can lead to a more functional birth.
Dr. Gregg Rubinstein: I want to chime in and talk a little bit about how chiropractic really dovetails with that. We’re really focusing on the same thing, working on the alignment and relaxation of the ligaments that are attached to the uterus. So, it’s very important. And as chiropractors, when we address the actual expecting mom, we’re really looking to increase mobility of the pelvis, which can be restricted or torqued or misaligned from carrying the extra weight. When the SI joints are really torqued, the soft tissues in the pelvic floor are affected and they can tighten up as well. The Webster Technique, which is primarily what we use, will unlock the sacrum and the SI joints and really relax those ligaments. When we get everything relaxed, that allows the baby to just assume a more ideal position for birthing.
When you combine that with the great movement and the flexibility that you get with the prenatal yoga, it almost always results in an easier birth. That’s really what we’re looking for. When you combine the two, it seems almost synergistic, I’ve noticed a significant increase in the amount of births that actually are able to be done vaginally, even sometimes VBAC, when they’re combining and using both techniques.
I’ve been really super pleased with the results that we’ve been getting, combining yoga and chiropractic. Again, we focus a little bit more on the hardware, whereas the prenatal yoga focuses on programming the software in the woman, and it just works so well together.
I’ve been honored to work with Deb throughout the past year or so, and we hope that we can continue our relationship. I hope that everyone out there gets a lot of information from what we’re talking about, so please check out the websites and get the information. And we hope that more women participate in prenatal yoga.
Deb Flashenberg is the founder and director of the Prenatal Yoga Center in New York City which she started in 2002. She is a certified prenatal yoga teacher, Lamaze childbirth educator, labor support doula and mother of two. To learn more about Deb, please visit her website at www.prenatalyogacenter.com and find her on Instagram at @prenatalyogacenter.
Dr. Gregg D. Rubinstein, D.C., is a midtown Manhattan chiropractor with over 20 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.
Click here to receive more information & to schedule your consultation.
