Pregnancy

Chiropractic care if you're pregnant? ABSOLUTELY Keeping your spine free from the vertebral subluxation complex is one of the best things you can do if you are pregnant. Pregnant women should see a chiropractor more than anyone else.
Your doctor of chiropractic will examine your spinal column for misalignments (called vertebral subluxation) causing spine and nerve stress. These subluxations damage the nervous system and affect the workings of the entire body. If subluxations are present, the chiropractor will correct them with a gentle chiropractic spinal adjustment in order to release the spinal stress. Without subluxations the body will function better, have higher resistance to disease and express more wholeness (health) than a body with uncorrected subluxations. That is the essential message of chiropractic.

All this is extremely important for the pregnant woman who needs to have her body as healthy and strong as possible in order to handle the rigors of pregnancy and childbirth. Chiropractic care will help ensure that the reproductive and other systems so essential for a healthy pregnancy receive a nerve supply from the spinal column without interference. The slightest interference to the nerve supply could adversely affect the mother and the developing fetus.

Another excellent reason for seeing a chiropractor during pregnancy is that it is a drugless health care system. Drugs, whether prescription or over-the-counter, can harm the growing fetus.

There are so many things pregnant women worry about: staying pregnant, carrying the baby to full term, morning sickness, the baby developing normally, backaches, leg pain and if their labor will be ssafe and (hopefully) easy. Over the past 100 years chiropractic care has proven to help pregnant women by helping to maintain pregnancy, control vomiting during pregnancy, deliver full-term infants with ease and produce healthier infants.

Questions & answers regarding chiropractic & pregnancy:

1. Is chiropractic safe in pregnancy?
Chiropractic is very safe and very sensible for both mother and baby.

2. Is it difficult to receive a chiropractic adjustment when pregnant?
Not at all. Chiropractors are trained in adjusting the spines of pregnant women and many chiropractic adjusting tables have special modifications and pillows for the pregnant figure.

3. How late in pregnancy is it possible to get an adjustment?
Patients have received adjustments even during labor, as that is when movement/shifting happens in the mother's pelvic area.

4. Can spinal care help postpartum depression?
For years chiropractic's beneficial effects on emotional stress and personality have been noted. At least one journal has quoted a doctor as saying that "postpartum depression is a rarity in patients receiving chiropractic care".

5. Can back pain be helped with chiropractic?
Chiropractic is not a treatment or therapy for back or spinal pain. However, with chiropractic spinal adjustments the body will be better able to heal its back and spinal pain, as well as many other health problems. Studies have shown a significant decrease in back and labor pains in mothers receiving chiropractic care.

6. Do I have to have a problem in pregnancy to see a chiropractor? Not at all. Chiropractic should be used as preventive maintenance. Periodic spinal checkups during pregnancy should be as common as periodic weight checkups.

7. Can my baby receive chiropractic?
Infants a few hours old have been given spinal checkups and adjustments, if need

Chiropractic And Kids

"Chiropractic care for my child? Why? His back doesn't bother him."

How often chiropractors have encountered parents who appreciate the importance of regular checkups for their child's teeth, hearing, eyes and ears, but draw a blank when it comes to a spinal checkup. In fact, a spinal checkup could be one of the most important checkups your child will ever have. Your child's spine is his/her lifeline because running through it is the spinal cord, containing billions of nerve fibers that send messages and energy from the brain to every part of their body. Spinal problems can start earlier than you might think -- much earlier. In fact, the birthing process itself has been shown to wreak havoc on a baby's spine.

And if you've ever watched a toddler struggling to master the art of walking.... lots of stumbles and falls. Older children are also at risk of spinal trauma. Sports activities, poor posture ("slouching"),improper backpack use, and working at an improperly sized desk all take a toll.

It's no wonder that many youngsters develop a spinal condition called vertebral subluxation. This condition occurs when spinal movement is restricted or bones (vertebrae) are out of alignment.
Vertebral subluxation is linked with a myriad of childhood ailments, such as colic, asthma, ear infection, and attention deficit disorders. As children grow older, untreated vertebral subluxations may also spark headaches, back pain and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Dr. Russell and Dr. Lucia work to correct these subluxations before the onset of symptoms -- and to prevent new ones from forming. This is accomplished with safe and effective maneuvers called chiropractic adjustments. These are extremely gentle, modified adjusting techniques to alleviate spinal problems in pediatric patients.

Posture & Scoliosis: Scoliosis - a lateral curvature of the spine - is clinically significant in 5% of youngsters. Early detection is key to keeping scoliosis under control and preventing the conditions associated with it, such as back pain, headache and in severe cases, heart and lung disorders. In-school screenings are not as in depth as when done by a doctor of chiropractic, they are spinal specialists. Posture screenings conducted by chiropractors are extensive, including various orthopedic tests and assessments. The result is a comprehensive evaluation that provides a thorough assessment of a youngster's current spinal health and risk of future postural disorders.

Why do Infants Need Chiropractic

You do everything to ensure your baby's health during pregnancy: you eat right, avoid drugs, smoking and drinking, take childbirth classes so you can have a natural, drug-free birth. After the baby is born, you breastfeed knowing that is the superior form of nutrition; you do everything you can to make sure your baby is healthy ---- but have you had the most important part of their health, their spine and nervous system, checked?

Birth Trauma - The First Subluxation: "The birth process ... is potentially a traumatic, crippling event.... mechanical stress imposed by obstetrical manipulation --- even the application of standard orthodox procedures may prove intolerable to the fetus. The view has been expressed clinically that most signs of neonatal injury observed in the delivery room are neurological...."
Towbin A., Latent spinal cord and brain stem injury in newborn infants. Develop. Med. Child Neurol., 1969.

"With the birth process becoming more and more an intervening procedure....the chiropractic checkup becomes even more important to the child's future." Larry Webster, DC, of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association.

Of a random group of 1,250 babies examined 5 days after birth, 211 suffered from vomiting, hyperactivity and sleeplessness -- spinal abnormalities were found in 95% of this group. Spinal adjustment "frequently resulted in immediate quieting, cessation of crying, muscular relaxation and sleepiness." The authors noted that an unhealthy spine causes "many clinical features from central motor impairment to lower resistance to infections -- especially ear, nose and throat infections."

Shaken Baby Syndrome: Babies are very top heavy. Mild to moderate shaking of a child can result in serious neurological damage since their neck muscles are undeveloped. This damage has been known to occur after playfully throwing the child up in the air and catching him/her. The damage caused is called Shaken Baby Syndrome.
When does a Baby need a Spinal Checkup? There are times in a baby's first year of life when spinal examinations are especially important.

1. After the birth process.

2. When the baby starts to hold his/her head up.

3. When the baby sits up.

4. When the baby starts to crawl.

5. When the baby starts to stand.

6. When the baby starts to walk.

"Our children deserve to be treated naturally, not with dangerous chemical drugs and unproven surgeries" Bobby Doscher, DC, director of Oklahaven Children's Center.

Do all you can to give your baby the best possible chance to have a healthy life. That includes childbirth without trauma, avoidance of drugs and medical procedures, and breastfeeding. You have your baby's eyes checked, heart checked, ears checked ---- why not their spine and nervous system?