Many pregnant women ask what they can do at home to help support the chiropractic adjustments and minimize or even avoid aches and pains during their pregnancy. The key is daily movement habits. I’m not talking about reactive recommendations such as yoga, stretching before bed or buying a fancy prenatal pillow. The truth is, the body adapts to how you use it throughout the days, months, and years. Of course, we all can learn how to put away laundry, unload the dishwasher, and play with our toddlers in a more functional way to support our bodies as we move through this physiological feat of pregnancy. But you don’t need to spend hours in the gym before you start feeling better. You can make simple at-home changes.

Pregnancy is just like a big group project. We have some members that are underworking and some that are overworking. What do we do about this? We could tell the part of our body that is overworking to relax and it may help, but what will happen if we don’t get the underworking parts to start pulling their weight? The overworking partners will have to start picking up the slack again and go right back to what was happening before. When our body is not balanced, this is when we often see dysfunction beginning to occur.

So, how do we create this balance and have good movement habits? 1.) How to sit down and stand up. Most people use their knees to gain momentum but we should be activating gluteal and pelvic floor muscles. Lengthening the pelvic floor is an important factor for vaginal birth. By keeping the knees on top of ankles, leaning forward, and sending hips behind you as we rise and reversing it all when sitting. 2.) Picking things up. Instead of rounding the spine, hinge at your hips. The problem lies in that we tend to only move the spine in a flexion posture. By lengthening the back of the body we can create more space in the pelvis and encourage a strong core and pelvic floor. This will also help build muscles in legs and glutes that are vital for pelvic stability. 3.) Sitting posture. An easy place to start is to find a neutral pelvis and sitting on the sitz bones with a bolster. When we unconsciously untuck our pelvis all day long, it can create a lot of tension in the pelvic floor. Minimize crossing your legs which creates torsion of the pelvis. You can even try sitting on an exercise ball to activate core muscles. 4.) Don’t make huge changes all at once. Go slowly and make powerful changes to impact your core, pelvic floor, and whole body function, supporting an easier birthing process.

HOW CAN CHIROPRACTIC HELP?

Our body adapts to what we ask it to do most of the time. Sitting in a desk chair, driving in the car, wearing heeled shoes, or jutting our hip to the side to hold children while putting away toys in the living room. Unfortunately, our body compensates and gets used to these habits. Our brain remembers these small tweaks and begins to function by creating shortcuts so it does not have to work as hard the next time to achieve the resulted movement.

We know that when the nervous system is clear, the innate intelligence can flow through our body and processes such as labor can and will happen as intended. This is where chiropractic adjustments come in to help the central nervous system adapt, filter, and maintain balance. Trust your body and trust that God’s design was fearfully and wonderfully made.

Pathways to Family Wellness, Issue 81, Spring 2024