Dr. Jacob Fletcher, D.C., C.C.E.P.
Chiropractic can help anyone live a healthier, more productive life. Chiropractic care during pregnancy and throughout childhood specifically can help your family to be healthier and more productive. Let’s first look at the simple principles of chiropractic as they apply to health. We can then apply these principles of health to pregnancy and children.
First, your body is a self-healing organism. Your nervous system, which is composed of your brain, spinal cord, and nerves, is the master control of the body. Every organ, tissue, cell, and even thoughts are directly dependent on proper nervous system function. There is no process that happens in your body that does not involve the nervous system. Any interference with the function of the nervous system will interfere with the entire human experience. Interference , from physical, chemical and emotional stressors, decreases the body’s ability to heal and regulate properly. Chiropractic works by reducing and eliminating nervous system interference, thereby restoring your body’s healing potential.
During pregnancy, a woman’s body goes through tremendous changes. Chiropractic can not only help with the aches and pains during pregnancy, but can also set a woman up for a better birth and recovery by properly aligning the pelvis. The uterus is a muscle and it gets its tone and contractibility from the energy of the nervous system. The uterus also has ligamentous connections to the pelvis. Having a properly aligned pelvis allows the proper tension and support of the uterus which benefits the growing baby. Lastly, an aligned pelvis allows a woman to have optimal room in the birth canal for the actual birth process. Research has shown that chiropractic care throughout pregnancy can lead to a quicker and easier birth process and also better recovery. Through gentle adjustments, chiropractic can help realign mom’s spine and pelvis after birth.
The chiropractic principles are important at any age and especially during the critical growth and developmental stages of infancy through toddlers. All growth and development is controlled and coordinated through the direction of the nervous system. For baby, there are compressive forces on the skull and spine as baby passes through the birth canal. This alone can be the cause of baby’s first interference to the nervous system. Add any additional interventions that may be done, and baby may have a nervous system that does not function optimally from the beginning. The goal of chiropractic is to reduce any interference so baby can start off expressing his or her full potential.
It is extremely important to find a chiropractor that has received specialized training and focuses on pregnancy and kids. The chiropractors at Well Beings Chiropractic have received intensive training on the evaluation of children and pregnant women through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA). The ICPA is not only a great place to find a specially trained pregnancy and kids chiropractor, but is also a great resource for research on a variety of topics (ICPA4kids.org). If you are looking for better health for your family, be sure to make chiropractic a part of your health care.
