Navigating Your Pregnancy with Chiropractic Care
The nine months of pregnancy can be a stressful time for mothers in all capacities. While the mental and emotional stress are quite overbearing, the physical stress experienced can potentially outweigh the other types of stress in terms of effects on the mother’s quality of life.
Part of this physical stress, is the body’s adjustment to the changing format of the musculoskeletal system. The body of a mother enacts significant preparations for pregnancy and in turn, the layout of major muscles and bones is altered drastically. The spine, the neck, the knees, and the hips all experience changes in shape and alignment and when these changes occur, there can be tons of discomfort that goes along with any other type of pain or discomfort that the mother may be feeling.
In order to mitigate the musculoskeletal changes experienced during pregnancy, mothers can pursue chiropractic care. With this type of treatment, mothers can ensure that the spine is in its correct place and if the spine is aligned properly, there is much less of a chance for alignment problems in other parts of the body.
Pain medication can be extremely harmful to the fetus during pregnancy. Anything that is absorbed into the mother’s bloodstream is passed on to the fetus and if pain medications, all sorts of complications can arise. Birth defects and congenital disorders, and many other complications have been seen in mothers who use pain medication during pregnancy. Chiropractic care offers mothers a medication-free alternative as a way to combat musculoskeletal pain and discomfort that results from pregnancy.
It is important to maintain a degree of strength in the joints while pregnant as upon childbirth, the joints can become extremely weak. Energy levels are low throughout pregnancy which may make it difficult to maintain a light strength training regiment. Chiropractic care gives mothers a chance to strengthen their joints by simply having them properly aligned and maintaining proper range of motion.
These are just some of the various different ways that chiropractic care can improve musculoskeletal health outcomes in mothers both during and after pregnancy. Ultimately, pregnancy is one of the most joyous times in a mother’s life and it does not have to be full of pain and discomfort.
Used under Creative Commons Licensing courtesy of Niko Knigge