Why Prenatal Chiropractic?
Why are so many women seeking out chiropractic care during pregnancy in preparation for safer, easier births? Why are so many pregnant women turning to prenatal chiropractors as one of their go-to health team members during pregnancy? What does the chiropractic adjustment do to restore normal physiology and improve function?
Chiropractic has historically been associated with the spine but what chiropractic is really about is stress management and greater stress resilience. Let’s first talk about how prenatal stress affects both mom and baby, how it creates a cycle of decreased physiological, immunologic and neurobiological adaptability for both mom and baby and how chiropractic can help.
PRENATAL STRESS AND ITS EFFECTS
Study after study has shown stress to be detrimental to pregnancy to maternal & fetal health. What’s more is new research has been emerging that the effects of prenatal stress may have consequences that span generations.
We at Sprout Family Chiropractic put stress into 3 buckets: physical, emotional and chemical. For any of these three types of stress, from the most mild to the most severe amounts of stress, there can be negative influences on pregnancy outcomes, birth outcomes, maternal health, and fetal development.
MATERNAL RESPONSES TO PRENATAL STRESS
According to Mary E Coussons-Read PhD., “during pregnancy the maternal endocrine, nervous and immune systems adjust to support pregnancy success, and it has been suggested the prenatal stress affects pregnancy by disrupting these processes.” Among these changes is a tendency toward reduced stress responsiveness of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and a shift in the immune system favoring an anti-inflammatory state. But, studies have shown that maternal stress during pregnancy has been shown to potentially alter maternal health and fetal development. This includes disruptions to the maternal immune system, endocrine system and nervous system, all of which are critical to supporting a healthy pregnancy. Stress during pregnancy can also create fetal/infant physiological dysregulation, including but not limited to neurobiological development, immune system response and neurobehavioral development.
Prenatal stress has also been connected with the following pregnancy and birth complications:
Preterm labor
Preterm delivery
Low infant birth weight
Shortened gestational length
Pre-eclampsia
Gestational diabetes
What’s more is prenatal stress has been shown to increase the stress reactivity of infants. Every parent we have talked to has told us when their baby is stressed, they are stressed, which can lead to lifelong health effects into childhood and adulthood.
THE POWER OF CHIROPRACTIC
An overwhelm of stress to the body (physical, emotional or chemical) can cause tension and stress to build up in the nervous system and create subluxations in the neuro-spinal system. At any age, subluxations are detrimental to one’s health because they affect the nervous system.
As Dr. John Minardi, DC states:
The subluxation is both a physical stressor, due to the strain of the supporting structures connecting to that vertebra, and a chemical stressor, due to the accumulation of inflammation inside the joints. These physical and chemical stressors flood the brain with negative information from the body. The negative stress information is the neurological connection between the subluxation and the limbic system, which launches the stress response. The stress response activates two systems: The sympatho-adrenal system (SAS), and the HPA. The SAS activates the sympathetic nervous system, which in turn releases hormones into the circulation. Once these hormones reach the adrenal glands, the adrenal glands release adrenaline into the bloodstream. Adrenaline supplies energy to the muscles and heart to prepare for the stress; however, it takes this energy from reproductive organs and the gastrointestinal tract.
The HPA axis activates the area of the brain that releases additional hormones into circulation. Once these hormones reach the adrenal glands, the adrenals release cortisol. Cortisol supplies energy to the muscles, but it takes this energy from reproductive organs and the immune system. This stress response is a normal response, provided the stressor is removed within a short period. However, when the stressor is not removed quickly, this chronic release of stress hormones negatively alters the immune, reproductive, and gastrointestinal systems, triggering a cascade of disease and illness. By removing the stressor (the subluxation) via chiropractic adjustment, we help stop the chronic stress response and allow energy to be reallocated to the centers that promote growth, expansion, and health.
In a nutshell, each time a chiropractor delivers an adjustment, we replace the negative information that is flooding the brain with positive information. This recalibrates the brain to help stop the release of chronic stress hormones and allows overall health and healing to occur. Every time a person receives a chiropractic adjustment, it positively affects the brain and nervous system. This positive effect on the brain promotes a state of ease and well-being within the body.
HOW WE DETECT STRESS DURING PREGNANCY
Understanding the effects of stress and the impact a chiropractic adjustment can make to halting the stress cycle is all well and good but how do we actually detect stress during pregnancy that is safe for both baby and mom?
We at Sprout Family Chiropractic use INSiGHT Scans to locate and measure stress in all our patients. These powerful scans are safe for everyone at any age, at any stage of life because they only read output, i.e. nothing is being inputted into the patient’s body.
Some of our pregnant patients initially come in with common pregnancy-related issues like sciatica, lower back pain, neck pain, nausea and headaches, many of our pregnant patients have no symptoms and want to simply know what stress their body is holding beyond what they are feeling.
The scans are a part of our 3-Step Clinical Process which allow us to create custom care plans for each individual based on their specific needs and pregnancy/postpartum goals.
If you are pregnant and want to know how much stress your body has stored as you are preparing for birth, schedule an appointment with us. If you know someone who would be interested in learning more about the effects of prenatal stress and how chiropractic during pregnancy can help, please send them this article!
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References:
Coussons-Read ME. Effects of prenatal stress on pregnancy and human development: mechanisms and pathways. Obstet Med. 2013 Jun;6(2):52-57. doi: 10.1177/1753495X12473751. Epub 2013 May 3. PMID: 27757157; PMCID: PMC5052760.