Pregnancy changes your body in incredible ways.

Your posture changes. Your center of gravity shifts. Your pelvis adapts. Ligaments become more flexible. Meanwhile, your spine, muscles, and joints work every day to support a rapidly changing body.

And behind all of it is your nervous system.

At Chandler Chiropractic, we believe chiropractic care can be an excellent addition to a healthy pregnancy plan. Prenatal chiropractic care can help maintain spinal and pelvic mobility, reduce pregnancy-related low-back and sciatic discomfort, and help your body move more comfortably as your baby grows.

Think about it this way:

Your nervous system is coordinating your body while your body is growing another human being.

That’s a pretty good reason to take care of it.

Pregnancy Places New Demands on Your Body

As your baby grows, your body continually adapts.

Your abdomen expands and your center of gravity moves forward. As a result, the curve in your lower back may increase. Your pelvis also carries additional weight, while muscles throughout the hips and lower back work differently.

At the same time, hormonal changes prepare the body for birth by increasing ligament flexibility.

All of those changes are normal.

However, they can also contribute to joint restrictions, muscle tension, changes in posture, and discomfort.

That’s why we don’t believe women should simply accept significant back or pelvic pain as something they have to endure until delivery.

Chiropractic Can Help With Pregnancy-Related Back Pain

Low-back and pelvic pain are extremely common during pregnancy.

Research has examined chiropractic and other conservative manual approaches for these problems. A systematic review found positive effects of manual therapies for pregnancy-related low-back and pelvic pain compared with usual care, although researchers noted that more high-quality studies are needed.

Another prospective study followed pregnant women receiving chiropractic care for low-back or pelvic pain. Many reported meaningful improvement over the course of care.

That’s consistent with what we’ve seen clinically for years.

As the body changes, chiropractic adjustments can help restore movement to restricted or misaligned joints. In turn, better movement can reduce unnecessary mechanical stress through the lower back and pelvis.

If you’re already experiencing recurring discomfort, our article on why back and neck pain keep coming back explains why finding the underlying mechanical problem matters.

What About Sciatica During Pregnancy?

Sciatic-type pain can make pregnancy especially uncomfortable.

Some women experience pain through the lower back or buttock that travels into the leg. Others notice tingling, burning, or discomfort that becomes worse with certain movements or positions.

As pregnancy progresses, changes in posture, pelvic mechanics, muscle tension, and joint function can all affect the lower back and surrounding tissues.

That’s why an examination matters.

Rather than assuming every pregnant patient with leg pain has the same problem, we evaluate how the lower back, pelvis, and surrounding joints are functioning.

When chiropractic care is appropriate, improving spinal and pelvic movement may help reduce the mechanical factors contributing to the discomfort.

Your Pelvis Matters During Pregnancy

Your pelvis has an important job ahead of it.

That’s another reason we pay close attention to pelvic alignment, joint movement, and surrounding muscle balance throughout pregnancy.

Restricted movement or imbalance through the pelvis can make an already-changing body work harder.

Chiropractic care focuses on helping the pelvis and spine move as efficiently as possible.

This doesn’t mean a chiropractor “moves the baby” or guarantees a particular birth position. Instead, our job is to address the mother’s musculoskeletal system.

We want mom’s body moving and functioning as well as possible as she prepares for labor and delivery.

Can Chiropractic Make Labor Easier?

This is a question we hear frequently.

There’s a long history of women and chiropractors reporting more comfortable pregnancy and labor experiences with regular chiropractic care. However, current research does not allow us to promise that chiropractic care will shorten labor.

And we don’t need to make that promise to explain why chiropractic belongs in a pregnancy plan.

Think about what labor asks of the body.

The pelvis needs mobility. The hips and lower back are placed under tremendous physical demand. Mom needs to move, change positions, and tolerate significant muscular and mechanical stress.

Going into labor with a spine and pelvis that move well makes sense.

Our goal is to help create the best possible musculoskeletal environment for mom as her body prepares for birth.

That may help her feel more comfortable and mobile going into labor. However, labor length and delivery are affected by many factors, so we never promise a specific birth outcome.

Don’t Forget the Nervous System

This is the part of pregnancy chiropractic that matters tremendously to us at Chandler Chiropractic.

We often call the nervous system the motherboard of the body.

Your brain and spinal cord coordinate communication throughout your body. During pregnancy, your body is undergoing an extraordinary amount of change while supporting the development of your baby.

Chiropractic care focuses on the relationship between the spine, movement, and nervous system.

When spinal joints become restricted or misaligned, movement changes. Surrounding muscles can compensate as well.

Chiropractic adjustments help restore healthy joint movement and improve spinal function.

We aren’t claiming that an adjustment “grows the baby” or replaces prenatal medical care.

We’re saying something much more practical:

During one of the most physically demanding periods of your life, it makes sense to take care of your spine, movement, and nervous system.

Is Chiropractic Safe During Pregnancy?

Prenatal chiropractic care should be adapted to the stage of pregnancy and the individual patient.

We don’t adjust a pregnant woman exactly the same way we would adjust every other patient.

Positioning changes as the abdomen grows. The amount of force and techniques we use can change as well. Most importantly, recommendations should always begin with an appropriate history and examination.

If something doesn’t look appropriate for chiropractic care, we refer accordingly.

Chiropractic isn’t a replacement for your OB-GYN, midwife, or other prenatal healthcare providers.

It’s an addition to your pregnancy team.

That distinction is important.

You Don’t Have to Wait Until Something Hurts

This may be one of the biggest misconceptions about chiropractic during pregnancy.

You don’t necessarily have to wait until you’re miserable to have your spine and pelvis evaluated.

Many women include chiropractic care throughout pregnancy because their bodies continue changing from trimester to trimester.

Think about how quickly that happens.

Your weight changes. Your center of gravity changes. Your sleeping position changes. Your gait can change. Your posture changes.

Your body is adapting constantly.

Chiropractic care gives us an opportunity to evaluate those changes and help maintain healthy movement along the way.

Pregnancy Is a Great Time to Think About the Whole Picture

Chiropractic care is only one part of a healthy pregnancy.

Good nutrition matters. Hydration matters. Appropriate exercise matters. Sleep matters. Stress management matters. And, of course, regular prenatal medical care matters.

We’ve talked about the importance of hydration in our article 7 Simple Ways to Drink More Water Every Day. Likewise, maintaining appropriate movement is something we emphasize throughout our exercise and lower-back content.

All of these pieces support the bigger picture.

At Chandler Chiropractic and Chandler Chiropractic of Scottsdale, that’s how we approach health in general.

Make Chiropractic Part of Your Pregnancy Team

Pregnancy isn’t an illness.

It’s an incredible physiological process that places extraordinary demands on a woman’s body.

We want moms to move well throughout that process.

We want the pelvis functioning properly. We want the lower back moving well. We want to reduce unnecessary physical stress when possible. Most importantly, we want mom as comfortable, mobile, and confident as possible heading into labor and delivery.

That’s why we believe chiropractic care can be an excellent addition to your pregnancy plan.

Not instead of your OB-GYN.

Not instead of your midwife.

Alongside them.

Your prenatal team watches the health and development of you and your baby. Meanwhile, your chiropractor can focus on spinal movement, pelvic function, posture, mobility, and the musculoskeletal demands pregnancy places on your body.

And after the baby arrives? Your body begins another major transition.

That’s why pregnancy fits so naturally into what we believe at Chandler Chiropractic:

Lasting results for all stages of life.