Back Clinic Pregnancy Chiropractic Team. Chiropractic care is the health maintenance of the spinal column, discs, related nerves, and bone geometry without medications or surgery. It combines the art and science of adjusting misaligned joints of the body, including, the spine, which reduces spinal nerve stress thus promoting optimal health throughout the body. All chiropractors are trained to work with women who are pregnant. Investing in the fertility and pregnancy wellness of women who are pregnant is routine care for most chiropractors.
Specialized chiropractors take a specific interest in prenatal and postnatal care and go through additional training. Chiropractors that have been trained to work with pregnant women may use tables that are made to adjust for pregnant women and will use techniques that avoid unnecessary pressure on the abdomen. A chiropractor who is trained to work with pregnant women will provide the patient with exercises and stretches that are safe to use during pregnancy.
If you are pregnant and have back pain, you are not alone. An estimated 50 to 70 percent of women who are pregnant experience back pain, according to the American Pregnancy Association. While pregnancy and childbirth is one of the most incredible experiences a woman can have, it is also very hard on her body. There are many dramatic changes that take place during that 9 to 10 month of gestation so it is understandable that she is going to feel some aches and pains along the way.
There are a number of reasons why a pregnant woman may experience back pain including:
Natural changes to her body such as softening of ligaments and loosening of joints as her body prepares to give birth
A shift in her center of gravity as her girth increases.
Weight gain.
Position of the baby.
Her posture.
Stress, exhaustion, and worry.
Is Chiropractic Care Safe During Pregnancy?
Chiropractic care has long been held as a viable method for relieving back pain in pregnant women. Historically, midwives and other natural or alternative practitioners were the ones advocating its many benefits. This resulted in minimal data from clinical studies existing on the topic.
However, in the last decade or so, researchers have been looking closer at chiropractic and its many benefits. In one study of pregnant women and chiropractic, 94 percent of the participants experienced dramatic improvement in their pain in just 5 days.
Today many doctors and obstetricians are sending their pregnant patients to chiropractors to help them manage their back and joint pain. It is perfectly safe for both mother and baby � and both can benefit from it.
Benefits Of Chiropractic Care During Pregnancy
While chiropractic care during pregnancy can be used as a safe, non-invasive, and drug free method of pain relief, women may also enjoy other benefits which include:
A healthier, happier pregnancy.
Improved mood and less anxiety.
More mobility.
Decreased morning sickness and nausea.
Easier, faster labor and delivery.
Better flexibility.
In some cases, prevent cesarean delivery.
Improved sleep.
Faster recovery time.
Relief of pain in the back, joints, and neck.
By keeping the body in proper alignment, chiropractic care can help a woman have a healthier, happier pregnancy. She can enjoy the many benefits and experience less pain so that she can better focus on the joy of pregnancy and the wonder of bringing a new life into the world.
Why You Should Have Chiropractic Care During Pregnancy
Pregnancy brings about many changes in a woman�s body. Hormonal changes as well as physiological ones occur at rapid speeds as her body creates and maintains a perfect environment where her baby will develop and grow. These changes can cause the spine or joints to become misaligned. When this occurs, painful conditions can be created, including:
Increased curvature of the back.
Pelvic changes.
Protruding abdomen that puts pressure on the back.
Changes in posture.
Keeping the pelvis and lower back well balanced and aligned is integral to preventing lower back pain during pregnancy. What�s more, when the pelvis and spine are not in alignment, it can limit the amount of room the baby has in the womb. This condition is called intrauterine constraint. This can also inhibit the baby�s ability to get in an optimal position for delivery.
Keeping the body, including the spine, in proper alignment is vital to mobility, flexibility, and overall wellness of the body even when it is not pregnant. However, pregnancy puts specific stress on the body, creating certain needs that chiropractic care can meet. It is safe, it is effective, it is fast, and it works.
Chiropractic Clinic Extra: Stress Management Care & Treatments
Expectant Mothers: Pregnancy is an exciting, precious time in a woman’s life, full of new experiences. Unfortunately, the baby’s development brings about bodily changes that often wreak havoc on the back and joints, and end up causing pain. These issues also frequently cause issues during delivery, and increase the time it takes for the body to recover post-pregnancy.
Expectant moms benefit from chiropractic care in a number of ways. Here are five key ways chiropractic care helps alleviate the toll pregnancy takes on a woman’s body.
#1: Expectant Mothers: Chiropractic Keeps The Spine In Alignment.
Pregnancy adds significant additional weight to a woman’s body in a short amount of time. This change bears on the spine, frequently pulling it out of alignment.
When this happens, the pain can be quite severe. Chiropractic care during pregnancy works to keep the spine in alignment and all supporting tendons working optimally, to be better prepared and able to adequately support the extra weight.
#2: Chiropractic Reduces Need For Pain Relievers.
Most times, individuals experiencing moderate pain pop a couple of over the counter pain relievers and think nothing of it. However, pregnant women strive to avoid medications when possible.
Chiropractic adjustments decrease the underlying issues that cause pain, so the patient relies less on medications. Experiencing less pain as well as eliminating the need for pain killers is a win-win situation for expectant mothers.
#3: Chiropractic Strengthens And Repairs Joints.
Pregnancy really beats up an expectant mothers joints. Chiropractic care for expectant mothers is a productive way to minimize the effect the large, protruding abdomen has on her hips, legs, and ankles.
Treating the body as a whole, chiropractic treatment works to strengthen the body and promotes healing of injured or strained areas.
#4: Chiropractic Helps Achieve Pelvic Alignment.
An aligned pelvis is critical to the birthing process, and increases the chances of being able to give birth naturally. According to the American Pregnancy Association,
“When the pelvis is misaligned it may reduce the amount of room available for the developing baby. This restriction is called intrauterine constraint. A misaligned pelvis may also make it difficult for the baby to get into the best possible position for delivery. This can affect the mother�s ability to have a natural, non-invasive birth.”
An experienced chiropractor can effectively align the pelvis before delivery, so the mother is able to deliver with little incident.
#5: Chiropractic Increases The Body’s Ability To Bounce Back.
Let’s face it, every pregnant woman thinks “will I ever fit in the clingy red dress again?” The healthier and stronger a woman’s body is before and during pregnancy, the easier it is to get back into shape once the baby is born. Eating right and safely exercising are effective ways to accomplish this.
Chiropractic care is also a valuable component to fitness. Expectant mothers who choose chiropractic enjoy better posture, less pain, and increased mobility, especially late in the third trimester.
This allows them to maintain exercise routines and be active longer than those suffering from back pain and achy joints. After the delivery, it’s easier to get back into a fitness routine, and into that red dress, if the new mother’s joints, back, and hips are aligned and functioning properly.
Chiropractic care can serve to reduce pain and increase the overall heath of expectant mothers, letting her relax and focus on the more pleasant aspects of pregnancy. Expecting women who commit to chiropractic care can look forward to a stronger body, the chances of a smoother delivery, and an easier recovery after the baby comes.
Pregnancy & Chiropractic Care
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The thyroid diseases, hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, are important to take care of in pregnancy, and unfortunately, they can occur relatively frequently. The thyroid gland is an organ found in the neck which releases hormones that regulate your metabolism, heart and nervous system, weight, body temperature, and many different processes within the body.
What are the risks of thyroid disease in pregnancy?
During pregnancy, in case you have preexisting hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, you may require more medical attention to control these conditions, particularly in the first trimester. Pregnancy may cause symptoms much like those common in these thyroid disases, in the first trimester. Should you experience palpitations, weight loss, and persisting vomiting, you should contact your doctor.
Untreated thyroid diseases in pregnancy may lead to early birth, preeclampsia (a severe increase in blood pressure), miscarriage, and low birth weight among other problems. It’s very important to talk to your healthcare professional if you have some background of hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism so you may be monitored before, and during pregnancy and have your treatment adjusted if needed.
Symptoms of Thyroid Disease in Pregnancy
Hyperthyroidism
Symptoms of hyperthyroidism may mimic those of normal pregnancy, such as an increased heart rate, sensitivity to warm temperatures, and exhaustion. Additional symptoms of hyperthyroidism include the following:
Irregular heartbeat
Nervousness
Severe nausea or vomiting
Slight tremor
Trouble sleeping
Weight loss or low weight gain for a typical pregnancy
Hypothyroidism
Symptoms of hypothyroidism, such as extreme tiredness and weight gain, can be easily confused with normal symptoms of pregnancy. Other symptoms include:
Constipation
Difficulty concentrating or memory problems
Sensitivity to cold temperatures
Muscle cramps
Causes of Thyroid Disease in Pregnancy
The most common cause of maternal hyperthyroidism during pregnancy is the autoimmune disease Grave’s disease. In this disorder, the body makes an antibody (a protein created by the body when it thinks a virus or bacteria has invaded) called thyroid-stimulating immunoglobulin (TSI) which causes the thyroid to make an excessive amount of thyroid hormone.
The most frequent cause of hypothyroidism is the autoimmune disorder called Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. In this condition, the body attacks the thyroid gland cells, leaving the thyroid without enzymes and cells to make enough thyroid hormones.
Diagnosis of Thyroid Disease in Pregnancy
Hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism in pregnancy are identified based on symptoms, physical examination, and blood tests to measure levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyroid hormones T4, and for hyperthyroidism, additionally T3.
Treatment of Thyroid Disease in Pregnancy
For women who require treatment for hyperthyroidism, an antithyroid medication that interferes with the production of thyroid hormones is utilized. This medication is usually PTU or propylthiouracil for your first trimester, and methimazole can be used also, following the first trimester, if necessary. In cases in which women don’t respond to these drugs or have unwanted effects from the remedies, surgery to remove part of the thyroid could be critical. After you give birth, hyperthyroidism can get worse at the first 3 weeks, and your physician may have to raise the dose of medicine.
Hypothyroidism is treated with a synthetic (artificial) hormone called levothyroxine, which is comparable to the hormone T4 made by the thyroid. Your doctor will continue to monitor your thyroid function tests every 4-6 months and will adjust the dose of your levothyroxine in diagnosis of pregnancy. In case you have hypothyroidism and are taking levothyroxine, it’s important to notify your physician once you know so that the dose of levothyroxine can be increased to accommodate the increase in thyroid hormone replacement, you are pregnant. Because the calcium and iron in prenatal vitamins can block the absorption of thyroid hormone in the human body, you should not take your vitamin.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .�
By Dr. Alex Jimenez
Additional Topics: Wellness
Overall health and wellness are essential towards maintaining the proper mental and physical balance in the body. From eating a balanced nutrition as well as exercising and participating in physical activities, to sleeping a healthy amount of time on a regular basis, following the best health and wellness tips can ultimately help maintain overall well-being. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can go a long way towards helping people become healthy.
Healthy, well-nourished women who breastfeed while pregnant don’t seem to increase their risk of delivering prematurely, miscarrying, or having a low-birth-weight baby, the authors of a new research review conclude.
But Gemma Lopez-Fernandez of Corporacio Sanitaria Parc Tauli in Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues write in the journal Women and Birth that more research is needed on the implications of nursing during pregnancy for mothers and children’s health.
While many women will decide to wean after getting pregnant, it is not uncommon for women to continue to nurse, Melissa Kotlen, an international board-certified lactation consultant based in New York, told Reuters Health in a telephone interview.
“If you’re healthy, you’re low risk, you’re not on bedrest, there’s really no problem with continuing to nurse while you’re pregnant,” Kotlen said. “Most of these moms end up tandem nursing once the baby’s born anyway.”
But even pediatricians and obstetricians can fall prey to unproven but common beliefs about nursing during pregnancy, Kotlen added, for example that nipple stimulation will trigger the release of oxytocin and bring on labor prematurely, or that nursing during pregnancy will deplete a mother’s nutritional stores.
To investigate these and other potential risks of breastfeeding in pregnancy, Lopez-Fernandez and her team reviewed 19 studies published between 1990 and 2015 and including a total of about 6,300 women.
They found some evidence that women who nursed during pregnancy gained less weight, had fewer fat reserves and lower levels of hemoglobin – the molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen. But the reviewers note that most research on the issue was done in the developing world.
The investigators found no support for the idea that breastfeeding women were more likely to deliver prematurely or to miscarry. Evidence on the effects of nursing during pregnancy on fetal and infant growth, as well as on the growth of the nursing child, was mixed.
Mothers who become pregnant while nursing should not be overly concerned about their nutritional status, as long as they are eating and drinking well, Kotlen said. “Your body knows exactly what it needs to take in. If you’re pregnant and you’re nursing, your body is going to know very quickly you need to eat a little bit more and you need to drink a little more.”
Lopez-Fernandez was not available for an interview by press time.
Pregnant women who drink non-diet sodas during pregnancy are more likely to have kids who carry extra body fat by age 7, researchers say.
In the study of more than 1,000 mother-child pairs, each additional serving of sugary soda per day consumed in pregnancy was associated with higher increments of waist size and body mass in kids years later.
“Sugary beverages have been linked to obesity in children and adults,” said study author Sheryl Rifas-Shiman of Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Although past research has tied sodas and some fruit drinks to excess weight gain, obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, few have looked at beverage intake during pregnancy, she and her colleagues write in Pediatrics.
“Childhood obesity is widespread and hard to treat,” Rifas-Shiman told Reuters Health by email. “So it’s important to identify modifiable factors that occur prenatally and during infancy so prevention can start early.”
The researchers recruited 1,078 women from among patients at eight obstetric offices affiliated with Atrius Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates in eastern Massachusetts.
The study team had in-person meetings with each woman at the end of her first and second trimesters, as well as during the first few months after her baby was born. In addition, kids were assessed in early childhood, around age 3, and in mid-childhood, around age 8. Mothers also completed mailed questionnaires every year for the child’s first six birthdays.
At all visits, researchers collected information about both parents and details of the household. During pregnancy, women answered questionnaires about what they typically ate and drank, including how much regular and sugar-free soda, fruit juice, fruit drinks and water they consumed each day.
At the mid-childhood visit, when kids were between ages 6 and 11 years, the research team measured each child’s height, weight, waist circumference and skinfold thickness. With these measurements, they calculated body fat percentage and body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight relative to height.
When researchers looked at data gathered during pregnancy, they found that more than half of mothers had consumed more than half a serving a day of non-diet soda during pregnancy, and nearly 10 percent had consumed two or more servings a day.
Mothers who drank more sugary drinks during pregnancy tended to be younger, had higher prepregnancy BMI, lower education, lower income, shorter breastfeeding times and were more likely to have smoked during pregnancy.
About one quarter of the children were overweight or obese by mid-childhood, and BMI, waist circumference and skinfold thickness were highest among kids whose mothers drank at least two servings of sugary drinks per day.
Only regular sodas were associated with this difference. Juice, diet soda and water consumed during pregnancy weren’t linked to a higher BMI score in kids. The research team also didn’t see differences based on the mother’s weight, race or ethnicity, the child’s gender or the amount of soda children themselves drank.
“I was surprised that maternal intake seemed to be more important than child intake,” Rifas-Shiman noted.
In the future, she and colleagues plan to study the long-term effects of efforts to reduce sugary beverage intake during pregnancy. They’re now using new methods to analyze when children’s intake of sugary beverages matters the most for their weight and health.
“I was struck that the differences in children’s body composition were seen in relation to intake levels that appear unremarkable, even less than one serving per day,” said Sian Robinson of the University of Southampton in the UK, who wasn’t involved in the study.
“We need to know more about the long-term effects of maternal nutrition on offspring health,” she told Reuters Health by email. “Few intervention studies in pregnancy have longer-term follow-up data to describe the effects on children’s body composition.”
Several of these intervention studies have been completed recently, Robinson added, and that follow-up data will be available soon.
“The links between sugar-sweetened beverages and obesity are well-established,” she said. “But this new data suggests mothers’ consumption is important and has public health relevance.”
Women who drink diet drinks while pregnant almost double the risk that their child will be overweight or obese at 7 years of age, says a study lead by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. Childhood obesity is known to increase the risk for health problems later in life, such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some cancers.
Researchers found that as the volume of amniotic fluid increases, pregnant women tend to increase their consumption of fluids. To avoid extra calories, many women replace sugar-sweetened soft drinks and juices with beverages containing artificial sweeteners.
Previous studies of adults have found that artificially sweetened beverages encouraged weight gain, and the study authors sought to discover if drinking diet beverages during pregnancy had an effect on the weight of children.
“Our findings suggest that artificially sweetened beverages during pregnancy are not likely to be any better at reducing the risk for later childhood obesity than sugar-sweetened beverages,” said the study’s senior author, Cuilin Zhang, Ph.D.
“Not surprisingly, we also observed that children born to women who drank water instead of sweetened beverages were less likely to be obese by age 7.”
The researchers limited their analysis to data from more than 900 pregnancies that were complicated by gestational diabetes, a type of diabetes that occurs only during pregnancy.
Approximately 9 percent of these women reported consuming at least one artificially sweetened beverage each day. Their children were 60 percent more likely to have a high birth weight, compared to children born to women who never drank sweetened beverages.
At age 7, children born to mothers who drank an artificially sweetened beverage daily were nearly twice as likely to be overweight or obese.
Drinking a daily artificially sweetened beverage appeared to offer no advantages over consuming one sweetened by sugar. At age 7, children born to both groups were equally likely to be overweight or obese.
Women who substituted water for sweetened beverages, however, reduced their children’s obesity risk at age 7 by 17 percent.
Scientists aren’t sure why drinking artificially sweetened beverages compared to drinking water may increase obesity risk. The authors cited an animal study that associated weight gain with changes in the types of bacteria and other microbes in the digestive tract.
Another animal study suggested that artificial sweeteners may increase the ability of the intestines to absorb the blood sugar glucose. Other researchers found evidence in rodents that, by stimulating taste receptors, artificial sweeteners desensitized the animals’ digestive tracts, so that they felt less full after they ate and were more likely to overeat.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of obese children has more than tripled since the 1970s. Today, 1 in 5 children between the ages of 6 and 19 are obese.
In addition to increased health risks as adults, obese children also have an increased risk of chronic health problems, such as asthma and Type 2 diabetes. They are also more likely to be bullied, and to suffer from depression and lower self-esteem.
Taking vitamin D supplements while pregnant may protect a mom’s baby from developing asthma, says a study published in the journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. The study found that the supplements could positively modify the immune system of the fetus and could protect it against asthma and respiratory infections.
Researchers from the U.K.’s King’s College London looked at the effect that taking a supplement of 4,400 IU vitamin D3 per day during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy versus the recommended daily intake (RDI) of 400 IU/day, had on the immune system of the newborn.
Volunteers were randomized at 10 to 18 weeks of pregnancy and given either a high or low dose of Vitamin D. At birth, blood was taken from the newborns’ umbilical cords and tested to gauge their innate immune system, which is the baby’s first line of defense to infection, and their T lymphocyte responses, which provide longer-lasting protection.
They discovered that blood samples from babies born to mothers supplemented with higher doses of vitamin D3 had stronger immune responses that protect newborns from infection. Since strong immune responses are associated with a decrease in the risk of developing asthma, researchers believe the babies will have better respiratory health during childhood.
“The majority of all asthma cases are diagnosed in early childhood implying that the origin of the disease stems in fetal and early life,” said lead researcher, Professor Catherine Hawrylowicz of King’s College London.
“Studies to date that have investigated links between vitamin D and immunity in the baby have been observational,” she said. “For the first time, we have shown that higher Vitamin D levels in pregnancy can effectively alter the immune response of the newborn baby, which could help to protect the child from developing asthma.”
Other recent studies have also found that nutritional substances can affect asthma. Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center found that omega-3 fatty acids, the healthy oils found in cold water fish and fish oil supplements, can help fight asthma. In addition, a New England Journal of Medicine study in late 2016 showed that pregnant women who ate fish or took fish oil supplements reduced the risk of asthma in their children.
Vitamin D during pregnancy has also been found to influence the risk of attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) as toddlers. Danish researchers studied the umbilical cords of infants, and asked moms to complete surveys noting their children’s behavior when they were two-and-a-half years old. Moms who had taken vitamin D when pregnant, and whose umbilical cords contained high levels, reported significantly fewer symptoms of ADHD in their children.
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#3: Chiropractic Strengthens And Repairs Joints.
