You’ve just found out you’re pregnant, and your first question is “Will my scoliosis affect my ability to birth my baby naturally? While there are conflicting responses regarding epidurals, scoliosis and your ability to have a natural childbirth, rest assured that many mothers with scoliosis have been in your shoes and experienced perfectly natural births with little issue. We hear a lot of success stories at Mama’s from our patients with scoliosis who tell us that adjustments and regular exercise have had a major impact on improving the quality of their pregnancies, births and labors.
Back pain and changes during pregnancy.
While some of the mothers that come into the practice find us as a result of research and proactive wellness, many clients come to Mama’s because of symptoms they’re experiencing. Whether it’s recurring headaches, lower back pain, or issues sleeping, we find that in the second trimester the Relaxin hormone has a significant effect on the body as ligaments prepare to accommodate for a growing baby. More often than not, regular adjustments can place the body into a better alignment, which alleviates some of the issues that occur and allows your body to easily communicate. When your body is in proper alignment, many patients report that some of the symptoms have improved. It’s especially telling when an expecting mother is introduced to chiropractic care after already having a first or second child. They tell us that the problems they experienced in their previous pregnancies without regular adjustments are lessened or alleviated. The most common question we hear from these moms is “Why didn’t I know about this sooner?”
Exercises and accommodating your spinal curve.
While we may not ever be able to completely eliminate the curvature in your spine, pregnancy provides us with the perfect opportunity to correct posture and balance in the body and situate the pelvis for birth. More often than not, and even for pregnant women who do not have scoliosis, exercises are a perfect supplement to regular chiropractic care to ensure that adjustments hold and our muscles are cooperating and toning properly to prepare for birth. Some of the exercises that we use are hip openers, the “sit like a guy” stretch, the “hooker” stretch (it’s not what you’re thinking!), and the forward leaning inversion.
Proper presentation and dilation in birth.
Chiropractic is more than just a way to “feel good” during your pregnancy. Many expectant mothers that have scoliosis can experience “stalls” in their birth that result from a mal-positioned baby in hips that may be crooked from scoliosis. Depending on how your spinal curve affects your hips, regular exercises and adjustments can help to improve your body’s balance, which helps your baby’s position. For one of my clients whose first baby presented with his head crooked, resulting in a stall in the transitional phase of her labor, we are working on specific exercises and adjustments to accommodate for the second baby and avoid the dilation issues that occurred with her first.
Overall whether from a proactive wellness standpoint, helping alignment for baby positioning, improving posture in the long term or regulating back pain and other symptoms, we’ve found that our expectant mothers with scoliosis are happy with the results they get from regular chiropractic care during their pregnancy. Rather than worrying that your spinal curve might have an impact on your pregnancy, birth or labor, adjustments can help provide you with peace of mind. You can enter your birth experience with the confidence that you’re in proper alignment, and that your body has all the clarity it needs to perform during the birth of your child.
