5 Ways Chiropractic Care Can Help postpartum Rehabilitation
Pregnancy is one of the best experiences a woman can have in her entire lifetime, and giving birth is one of the ultimate success a woman can boast about. However, the physical agony that comes with it can steal the joy of being a mom and woman at the same time. Pregnancy carries with it a lot of pain already, back pain, sciatica, swelling ankles and feet, hurtful sex, headaches and whatnot, but unfortunately not all of this pain goes away after giving birth. What’s worse is that most of this pain are far more elevated after giving birth, leaving the new found mom with sadness, or worst, even depression. Chiropractic care had been an all time recommendation for expectant and postpartum women. It helps pregnant women have a better experience by giving them care and by educating them about the proper posture and movement while waiting for their baby. Chiropractors help babies by helping them have their optimal growth position while waiting for their big day. Chiropractic care is all the more needed after giving birth, especially because this is the time a woman’s body is working for its rehabilitation. Below are 5 of the many beautiful reasons why you need a chiropractor after giving birth.
Quicken Recovery Time
After giving birth, whether, via CS or normal vaginal delivery, a woman’s body will go through a process of reconstruction to get back to its original structure and shape. Not all women believe that it is going to be the same again. Most women who experience pain after giving birth, seem to incorporate the pain that came with it as a part of their normal daily lives. Although it does take time for the body to recover from depression and stress during pregnancy and labor, it is not right to accept all the unnecessary pains as normal. The original “normal” that women used to have can come back; there’s hope for getting back to your pre-pregnancy body with the help of chiropractors. Chiropractors are there to help your body make the recovery process faster, and help normalizes pelvic and spinal movements- which are the most affected during prenatal and postnatal days. With chiropractors by your side, you are guided with proper posture and your postural issues, like the way you are carrying your baby, will be corrected right away before you develop another problem out of it.
Teach the best position and Overcome Postural Issues
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, chiropractor helps you correct your postural issues. Some women complain of having neck and back pains when breastfeeding when lifting in and out of car seats/ cribs, and in worse conditions, some even develop a misalignment in their hipbones, termed as Pelvic Girdle.Balancing your baby on one side of your hip can cause misalignment of the back, pelvis or tailbone. Most mothers also have the tendency to move in a sway back manner when holding their baby with their pelvis in a forward position. Unless this posture is corrected, your pelvic pain is not going to go away.Aside from this most new moms also hunch over when they are feeding, and this can lead to pulled or strained neck that can cause torn ligaments/ muscles limiting neck movement. New moms are expected to spend most of their time sitting down and leaning forward, which increases the chances of having neck and shoulder pain.Your chiropractor is going to help you find out your personal alignment that would identify the best position you will have while feeding. If you have a newborn baby, you are more likely to pick up the baby more often from its crib to feed or rock it to sleep. Picking up or carrying your child in the wrong position can cause strained back which is also one culprit of back and pelvic pain. Moms are also prone to carpal tunnel syndrome, which is a product of holding the baby with a bent wrist. In doing this often, most moms consider it as something usual, but chiropractors can help your body heal from repetitive strain injuries.
Pelvic Rehabilitation
This is probably the first thing that new moms care about- pelvic rehabilitation. Most new moms have trouble controlling leaks, standing and sitting for long, weak back and pelvic muscles, and hurtful sex. If not treated, this can result to not only months but years of unhappy motherhood and married life to a woman. These physical challenges add up to the woman’s inferiority towards her own body’s appearance. Gaining weight and not being able to go back to normal routines, can be tough for women to accept and thus lead to postpartum depression. There is a need to educate women on the importance of getting all these unnecessary pains treated as this can steal the joy of motherhood away from them. Chiropractors strive to help women get the best out of their motherhood days by freeing them from these stressors. They help restore your body’s pelvic balance with the support of some manipulation techniques, and that gives way for your ligaments to stretch back to where they originally were. By improving core and pelvic strength, a new mom’s body can get back its stability and control, especially with pelvic floor muscles. This also reduces the pain experienced in the upper back, lower back and in the pelvis, which helps women have better posture as well.
Treat Pregnancy-related Sciatica
Chiropractors also help treat pregnancy-related Sciatica. Sciatica is one of the many symptoms of an underlying issue in the lower spine; you can feel it as a leg pain, with a tingling or numbing sensation. The pain can be felt from the lower back down to the sciatic nerves at the back of each leg. It is pretty much caused by nerve compression from the lower spine. There are a lot of reasons why this nerve compression happens, so it is important to have a proper diagnosis of sciatica, as it is the first step needed in treating it. For pregnant women, it is a product of the expansion of the uterus and the weight of the baby. This expansion doesn’t automatically pop on its own after giving birth; that’s why sciatica still happens during postpartum. Chiropractic care has always been recommended for patients with sciatica, especially for women who just gave birth. Chiropractors perform manipulations to let the body initiate the healing faster by itself. Chiropractic treatment doesn’t use any drug or synthetic medication, which makes it the primary reason why they are best for new moms, especially those who are breastfeeding. If the sciatica is caused by something outside the scope of a chiropractor, they will refer you to a specialized physician.
Helps Avoid Postpartum Depression
As mentioned in the previous items, dealing with all the physical pains after giving birth can cause new moms to have postpartum depression. Unless women are educated that these pains are not normal, they are going to let it steal away the joy of motherhood. Postpartum depression can cause women to withdraw themselves from people- fear of being unable to get back in shape for good, fear of having pain during sexual intercourse, and worse, indifference toward their newborn baby. Waking up for almost 24 hours each day is difficult for new found moms, it makes them be easily agitated and irritated, that’s why it is their due right to be free from physical pain while taking care of their newborn babies. Chiropractic care offers an alternative way to treat these issues using the techniques of biomechanics alteration. This natural way of treating the body does not affect breastfeeding among mothers; breastfeeding is the most obvious way for the mother and baby to bond well. This being a natural approach to treating postpartum pain, chiropractic care can positively influence the emotional improvement among mothers, resulting to better wellbeing. Chiropractic care can help women have better physical health. Better health, as we all know, is better living. If you are experiencing prenatal or postnatal pains, don’t hesitate to ask your healthcare provider about your options today. Your Chiropractors are always ready to assist you and help you have better pregnancy and motherhood.
Author Bio: Melissa K Symmonds is a passionate blogger, Certified Recreational Therapist, and a Chiropractic Enthusiast. She is particularly focused on the pregnancy and postpartum care of Papa Chiropractic, a chiropractor based in Port St Lucie, Florida.