If you are new here, I'm Dr. Kenzie, a Webster Certified Prenatal Chiropractor! Pregnancy is such an exciting, but uncertain time in a woman's life. I believe that you need multiple members on your support team, including a prenatal chiropractor! Prenatal chiropractic care has so many benefits to it!
If you are new to pregnancy, chiropractic care, or both, here are some answers to some questions you may have!
What is the difference between a prenatal chiropractor and a regular one?
They have a lot of similarities and differences! We all have the same goal to get your body feeling better, improve your spinal motion, and reduce your pain and discomfort. However, as a prenatal chiropractor, we have a different protocol we follow, called the Webster Protocol. This was an advanced certification that I took to help treat pregnancy specifically. It involves much more than your standard adjustments, and analyzes pregnancy specific findings.
What does the Webster Protocol check for?
In addition to checking your full spine, the Webster protocol checks a few additional areas, including:
Round Ligament + Sacrotuberous Tightness
Hip Flexor Tightness
Pubic Symphysis Dysfunction
SI Joint motion
Hip Muscle Tightness
All of these areas are areas that get tight/weak/painful during pregnancy. This protocol has us check all of these areas, every single time, to help optimize your pregnancy and reduce your discomfort.
What are some benefits to seeing a chiropractor while I am pregnant?
Boy, I am not sure we have enough space to go over all of the benefits! While I don't believe that every person needs to see a chiropractor all of the time, I do believe that all pregnant women should see a chiropractor during their pregnancy.
Let's go over some major benefits:
Reduced pregnancy discomfort: This might come as a shocker, but sometimes pregnancy can lead to some discomfort. It's almost as if you are growing a full human inside of you! Our treatments help lessen this discomfort, whether through adjustments, reducing muscle tightness, or improving mobility
Optimized Pelvis for Birth: We 'optimize your pelvis' meaning, we make sure everything is moving as it should. And in doing so, it leads to a better delivery. If your pelvis and hips are tight, stuck, and not moving like they should, this can cause discomfort during labor. We help improve the mobility and motion in your lower back and pelvis, leading to (hopefully) a smoother delivery!
Improved Sleep: When you don't sleep, you don't recover. And when you can't recover, you are in pain. Sleep is a priority during pregnancy. A lot of my pregnant patients had difficulty sleeping before coming in to get treated, from restlessness, discomfort, tightness, and more. By treating your whole body and nervous system, we are allowing your body to relax and recover, resulting in a healthier, happier, pregnant you
Reduced Sciatica, Low Back Pain, and other Musculoskeletal Pain: Unfortunately, these are so common during pregnancy, going back to the whole 'creating a human' thing. We a) treat you in office, through adjustments, muscle work, cupping, dry needling, etc., but we also b) give you stretches, exercises, ergonomic advice that can help you out of office and heal on your own.
And much more!! Each pregnancy is unique, and we will work with you towards whatever you need!
When should I start seeing you?
The sooner you start care, the better! Your body starts changing day 1, with hormone fluctuations and pregnancy symptoms. The earlier we can start, the more benefits you will receive. Now, you don't need to see us every week your entire pregnancy, but as you progress further along, we will increase your frequency (trust us, you will want to!). But, each case is different. It depends on how quickly you grow, whether you are a 1st time mom, if you've had back pain pre-pregnancy, and a bunch of other factors. But in conclusion, I would recommend establishing care with a prenatal chiropractor once you find out you are pregnant !
What do you do besides adjustments?
In addition to adjustments, we offer:
Muscle Therapies: These are a home run with my pregnant gals. We perform muscle scraping and cupping to tight areas, such a your upper and mid back. A very common scenario we see, is with the increase in size of your breasts and belly, your posture is pulling you more forward than ever before, resulting in tightness in your upper back! Muscle work feels like a very deep tissue massage, promoting blood flow, and reducing tightness.
Dry Needling: This sounds a lot scarier than it is! We obviously don't needle the belly or low back, but dry needling is a great musculoskeletal treatment for those stubborn trigger points. We also don't dry needling during the first and last month or pregnancy. Learn more about dry needling here
Exercises + Stretches: As stated before, we need to keep you moving outside of the office. We have lists of exercises and stretches that are specific for pregnancy during each trimester. We will happily work through these with you and help optimize your body for birth.
In conclusion, if you are pregnant, let's connect! We love treating pregnancy here at Woodland. It is so rewarding to watch these mom's change week by week, and then treat them and their babies after birth!
Chiropractic during pregnancy has numerous benefits. It will help reduce your pregnancy discomfort, optimize your body for birth, and give you a healthier and happier pregnancy!
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