The most common reason that women seek out chiropractic care after their pregnancies is due to persisting neck or lower back pain. Many women wait out their pregnancies without seeking treatment for their pain hoping that it will all go away once the baby is born. This is true for some, but not for all women.
The second most common reason that women see a chiropractor after their pregnancy is for pain that is due to labor, usually due to the pushing process. Oftentimes, as the baby descends through the birth canal, the bones of the pelvis can shift and misalign. This is common, especially if the baby is posterior (baby’s spine is against the mother’s spine) and the mother experiences back labor. Regardless of the length of your labor or the size of your baby, subluxations or misalignments of the spine and pelvis are common during labor, leading to back pain that is experienced after the baby is born.
The third reason for a woman to seek out chiropractic care after her baby is born is what I term “new mommy syndrome”. Some of the causes of this syndrome are the following:
- Poor posture during breast or bottle feeding
- Carrying infant car seats
- Extra body weight from carrying our growing babies
- Utilizing infant carriers, which are great for mother/baby bonding but tough on our tired muscles and joints
- Lack of sleep
- Lack of exercise, especially strength training
- Lack of time to prepare healthy meals
- Lifting our older children out of the car seat, bath, stroller, etc.
COMMON POST-PARTUM CONDITIONS:
- Lower back pain
- Sciatica (pain, numbness, or tingling in the buttocks, legs, or feet)
- Coccyx or tailbone pain
- Upper back pain
- Headaches
- Neck pain
- Pubic symphysis dysfunction
If you’re suffering from any of these conditions, let us do an examination and together we can determine if chiropractic might help you!