Chiropractic Care During Pregnancy… What a Relief!
As summer is finally upon Chicago, warmer weather will allow Chicagoans & Lincoln Parkers to get outside, enjoy the lakefront, and be active with volleyball, softball, and golf, to name a few sports/activities. With remaining active a key component of being healthy, there are many pregnant women in Chicago & Lincoln Park welcoming the more moderate weather. As women progress through their pregnancy, back pain is often a common complaint one may experience. Back pain may be in the form of sciatica due to the swelling of one’s tissues around their pelvis, leading to more muscle tension in your buttock and subsequent leg pain. A different example of back pain stems from the round ligament of the uterus. It is fibrous-like muscular connective tissue resembling a round band of rope that maintains the anteversion position of the uterus during one’s pregnancy. The anteversion position allows your baby to remain head down during the later stages of one’s pregnancy. This post will address how chiropractic care can help pain stemming from the round ligament.
Because round ligament pain is often dull, achy, sore, sharp (at times), and quite generalized, the pain is often felt deeper in pregnant women. As a woman progresses through her trimesters, the pain is often experienced during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters due to the round ligament changing in size. Although one’s round ligaments will shrink once delivery occurs over the coming weeks to months, it contracts and tightens as the pelvis begins to widen causing the pain that women complain of. As the pain intensifies, rest can be beneficial, but chiropractic care can diminish pain associated with this injury.
A thorough consultation and examination is still important to rule out other sources of back pain associated with one’s pregnancy before treating a patient for round ligament inflammation. Chiropractic manipulation of the pelvis, sacrum, and lumbar spine (lower back) and stretching some of the pelvis ligaments around the round ligament can ease the tension of the round ligament and its pain. Chiropractic manipulation will reduce the nerve inflammation of the nerves that supply the uterus by aligning the vertebrae in your lower back, pelvis, and sacrum. Because the round ligament is part of the uterus, the chiropractor with experience working with pregnant women, should demonstrate how to hold tension/pressure at this site to allow the pregnant woman some relief if the pain intensifies. One can hold this tension for about 30 seconds at a time before releasing and repeating this a few times throughout the day. Also, staying active (within reason) is important with activities such as walking, Pilates, and Yoga will help to maintain flexibility, and mobility within the pelvis and lower back during one’s pregnancy is just as important. These low impact exercises can allow you to remain active considering the fatigue women often develop due to their pregnancy and change in body in the later stages of one’s pregnancy.
One must understand that this pain may worsen as the pregnancy progresses with chiropractic manipulation and treatment providing some relief, without eliminating the pain altogether. A pregnant woman must not wait until the pain worsens to then address it. If a pregnant woman is proactive in seeking out treatment, it will allow her pregnancy a hopefully, smooth transition during the stages leading up to one’s birth.
Brian Marion, DC, CCSP, ART, SFMA, CKTP Lincoln Park Chiropractic
2202 N. Lincoln Ave Ste 1 Chicago, IL 60614. (773) 248-2790