Return to Pregnancy index

In fact, if there's one group of people who need chiropractic care more than any other it's pregnant women.

Chiropractic care will help to ensure that the reproductive and other systems essential for a healthy pregnancy receive proper nerve supply from the spinal column. The slightest interference to the nerve supply could adversely affect the mother and the developing fetus.

Chiropractic care is especially needed during pregnancy because of many physical and chemical changes the woman's body is going through. Not only is the center of gravity changing because of the added weight she is carrying, but her spinal structure becomes more flexible due to the hormone produced by the ovaries called relaxin. Relaxin relaxes the ligaments in the pelvis, preparing them for the stretching during childbirth and can create an unstable spine and aggravate spinal problems.

Another excellent reason for seeing a chiropractor during pregnancy is that it is a drugless health care system. Drugs, whether prescription or over the counter can harm the growing fetus. There is no such thing as a completely safe drug. The safest thing for a pregnant woman to do is avoid all drugs, if possible, and seek natural non-drug alternatives for health care. No drug should be prescribed during pregnancy without weighing the maternal need against the risk of fetal damage.

There are so many things pregnant women worry about: staying pregnant, carrying the baby to full term, morning sickness, the baby developing normally. Things they should not have to worry about are backaches, headaches, leg pain and if their labor will be safe and (hopefully) easy as possible. Can chiropractic care easy their minds? The experience of many chiropractic patients has shown it can.