Chiropractic postpartum care may help support a mother’s recovery by improving posture, reducing stress and tension, promoting better sleep, and helping them feel their best as they care for their new babies.
What is postpartum transition care, and why is it an important part of a mother’s recovery after pregnancy and childbirth?
Dr. Gregg Rubinstein: Wow, that’s a great question. So postpartum transition care is really just a continuation of what we did in prenatal care, right? So, the mom was pregnant, she came in, we did Webster protocol ideally, and she had the delivery that she wants, but pregnancy can be pretty rough on a body, right? So, there’s the weight gain, 25 to 30 pounds. They haven’t been able to exercise so their core strength decreases. Their body’s kind of been to hell and back. We basically passed a baby a little larger than a football through the birth canal, which can put a lot of stress on the pelvic floor and all these different things.
So, there is a lot that goes on both physically, chemically and emotionally for the mom during pregnancy, and postpartum is no different, right? Now we have this new baby and, all of a sudden, the focus is on the baby, not so much on the mom who’s already been to hell and back.
When we look at the moms, typically they come in with the baby. The baby might be having a latching issue, or it might be having colic or whatever, and they’re bringing the baby in. And 90%, after I do the examination and take care of the baby, I just look into the mom’s eyes, and I say, “Let me take care of you,” because they’re pretty harried, right?
So, they need to regain the strength of the pelvic floor. They need to learn about proper posture with the baby. They need to reduce their own physical stress that’s involved in caring for the baby and the mind-body connection, right?
Because being a new mom is stressful, they’re constantly cranking out cortisol and adrenaline, and that can have really difficult effects on your overall health. When people are just flooded with cortisol and adrenaline, they typically experience high stress, high muscle tension. Therefore, they’re more likely to subluxate, be out of alignment, irritating the nerve system and putting them into a general state of stress.
So postpartum transition care is important for all moms and dads because they experience the same kind of stress. It’s a little more prevalent in the moms because they are the primary caregivers. But it’s truly important to make sure that you transition and get the physical and chemical and emotional support you need postpartum to make sure that you can be the best mom that you can possibly be.
How can chiropractic care support the recovery of core stability, pelvic realignment and posture?
Dr. Gregg Rubinstein: So, posture is one big thing, right? After we have the baby, our orientation to the world, we’re no longer standing straight up and looking straight ahead. Now we’re constantly looking down. We’re bending forward, we’re lifting, we’re bending, we’re looking at the child, we’re watching the child breastfeed, we’re watching all these things get done, everything about the baby. And if we do not take care of our own posture and realize that it’s going to change, you have to care for that.
So, take the time, get your spine checked when it’s under stress. Realigning the pelvis area after they give birth is huge. Strengthening the core is important. So, we recommend people do things like prenatal yoga, and gentle exercises to start to regain the core.
My job is to make sure that everything’s lined up right, and the nerve system is optimized because everything that a mom goes through is regulated through their nerve system. And same thing with the baby. Every stage of growth and development is mediated through that nerve system. So, we want to make sure that both the mom and the baby are clear and connected so they have all the health they need to have to do everything they want to accomplish in life.
It’s very important that we regain pelvic alignment, increase the core stability and work on our posture. And there are little things that we can do to make sure that our posture is better, and our spine stays healthier longer.
You just mentioned breastfeeding can strain a mother’s neck and posture. So specifically, what can chiropractic care do to help?
Dr. Gregg Rubinstein: You know, sometimes it’s the simple things that prevent us from needing that chiropractic care in an emergency situation.
When you’re breastfeeding the baby’s in your arms, your head is down and tilted either to the left side or the right side, depending on which breast that that child is latching on. It’s so important.
One easy trick that I teach all moms that they should all know about is when you’re doing your breastfeeding, do it in front of a mirror or even in front of a TV that’s a black screen that’s off. You can see your reflection, you can see the baby, what they’re doing. That way, you don’t have to look down, you can look straight ahead, which takes tons of strain off the neck. That one recommendation, I think, saves mom’s necks and posture by a ton.
Also, using proper lifting technique, remembering that you’re carrying the baby, you can wear the baby. There are Baby Bjorn and other different ways to wear the baby that are more ergonomically sound than just holding the baby. When kids learn to walk, they want to be picked up. And also teaching your child that they don’t always need to be picked up, teaching them to be self-sufficient and things.
But when they need to be picked up and held, make sure you’re bending your knees, make sure you’re holding that child as close to you as possible and that you have help, that you don’t put all the strain on your neck and arms by holding the baby. Use a baby carrier, use a baby wearing technique, and there are tons out there.
So, I always recommend that we use good posture when we’re caring for our kids, and be mindful of ourselves because we are the primary caregivers. So, if we can’t take care of the child because we’re in too much pain, then it becomes more costly, more expensive, and those problems will continue to snowball.
Does chiropractic care help women cope with postpartum emotional strains, including the stress, the effects of stress and sleep deprivation?
Dr. Gregg Rubinstein: Yeah, those things are huge. Look, anytime we’re under stress, our body secretes more cortisol and adrenaline, right? We need to calm the body down, increase the nerve system’s connection through better neural regulation, right? The emotional strains, the stress.
Moms are constantly worried about their babies, what’s going to be happening next. They need to focus more on what’s going on right now and in front of them and keep their eye on the prize and not worry about the next stage and what school they’re going to go to and all these other things.
So, sleep deprivation is another thing, right? When we’re stressed out, we’re not sleeping well. When we’re not sleeping well, that’s when we get more emotional stress, right? We’re tired, we’re shorter with our husbands, we’re shorter with the baby, and that can create anger in our own lives. So, it’s very important to keep the emotional part.
And there are plenty of experts who deal with postpartum depression. Anything above the atlas or in the mind, that’s not really our area, but we help the body with the physical manifestations of stress, the tight muscles, the increased secretion of adrenaline and cortisol, and help balance the body’s autonomic nerve system. So, we spend more time in the parasympathetic because when we’re in sympathetic overdrive, the body just doesn’t heal.
So, the emotional status of the parent is very important because when they’re clear and calm, they make better decisions. And the kids can sense that, the parent’s energy. When the parent’s worried, they can sense it, and the kids get more upset, too. So, it’s so important that we get proper sleep and that we deal with the postpartum emotional strains.
And again, I can help a mom deal with the physical part of that, but the emotional things, that a lot of times is better off left to the prenatal, postnatal, depression specialists, usually the psychologist or psychiatrist that can really help sort those things out.
Remember, it takes a village. There’s not always just one simple answer. I know chiropractic helps a lot of these women deal with postpartum emotional strain and the physical strain of being a parent, but it’s not a panacea. Sometimes we need to bring other people involved, and we have a vast network of paraprofessionals that help us help our moms lead active, healthy, drug-free lives.
What can a new mother expect during her first chiropractic visit after giving birth?
Dr. Gregg Rubinstein: You know, what a new mother can really expect is she can expect to be listened to and heard. We’re going to listen to everything she’s going through, and we have a lot of experience. We have tons of moms that come through our office. Both my staffers are moms in recent years so we have lots of advice. We have lots of people here who can calm a mother down and explain that they’re going to be listened to and heard.
We’re going to take them through a proper examination to make sure that their spine and nerve system are healthy and that they are on the road to recovery after giving birth.
Because it’s not the same. It’s not just tough it out and stay in the game. There are a lot of things that we can do to strengthen the pelvic floor, to maintain proper alignment to our hips and our lower back and the pelvic girdle, to make sure that mom recovers and gets back all the strength and remains strong and can get back to doing the exercise and the things that are important, like caring for her family, returning to work and living her best day every day.
So, we want to make sure that there are multiple ways that a mom can get answers to her questions, get help in a clear, concise manner, in a no-stress to a low-stress environment.
Learn More
To speak with Dr. Gregg Rubinstein, visit www.ChiropractorMidtown.com or call (212) 977-7094 to schedule an appointment.
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