During pregnancy, there are incredible changes occurring in a woman’s body and the creation of delicate new life within. The significance of pregnancy cannot be over stated. Chiropractic care during pregnancy is focused on caring for both mother and unborn baby.
Studies have shown women who have consistent chiropractic care throughout their pregnancies have shorter and less painful labours, with fewer complications and fewer interventions.
I can speak from experience not only as a chiropractor, but 12 years ago as a pregnant patient myself. I am fortunate to have experienced the health benefits from chiropractic care personally, and passed on to my child as well.
Why is Chiropractic care important during pregnancy?
The nervous system is like the “electricity” for the body. It supplies this “electricity” to every body system including the reproductive system. Therefore, keeping the spine aligned helps the entire body work more effectively. This is true throughout all stages of life, and very important throughout pregnancy for a woman. Chiropractic care is also a drugless way to manage symptoms of pregnancy, such as back pain. A common misconception is that back pain during pregnancy is “normal”. Back pain is not normal, it is only common.
A few aspects of pregnancy that may lead to spinal misalignments:
Rapid increase/decrease in weight
Postural changes
Stress
Changes in sleep patterns & positions
Altered appetite and eating habits
Loosening of body ligaments to allow for growth and labour
Flat feet/pronation due to weight gain/loose ligaments
Emotional changes (hormonal shifts/new family stress)
Not only does what you eat and drink during pregnancy affect the unborn baby, but the way you sleep, sit, stand, walk, drive and handle stress will affect the baby too. Your baby needs your nervous system to be functioning optimally in order to develop correctly.
Is chiropractic care safe during pregnancy?
The answer is Yes! There are no known contraindications to chiropractic care throughout pregnancy. General wellness of women who are pregnant or trying to conceive is a routine treatment.
Chiropractors that have been trained to work with pregnant women may use tables that adapt to suit a pregnant woman’s body, and will use special techniques that avoid unneeded pressure on the abdomen. Exercises and stretches that are safe to use during pregnancy are recommended by chiropractors to compliment any adjustments made to your spine.
Why should I have chiropractic care during pregnancy?
During pregnancy, there are several anatomical and physiological changes that occur to the woman’s body. The following changes could result in a misaligned spine or joint:
Protruding abdomen and increased back curve (lumbar lordosis)
Pelvic changes
Postural adaptations
Establishing pelvic balance and alignment is another reason to obtain chiropractic care during pregnancy. When the pelvis is misaligned it may reduce the amount of room available for the developing baby. A misaligned pelvis may also make it difficult for the baby to get into the best possible position for delivery. When the pelvis or lumbar spine is misaligned, there are also increased chances of developing back pain, groin pain or sciatica.
What are the benefits of chiropractic care during pregnancy?
Chiropractic care during pregnancy can include a variety of health benefits for women who are pregnant. Potential benefits of chiropractic care during pregnancy include:
Maintaining a healthier pregnancy
Controlling symptoms of nausea
Reducing the time of labour and delivery
Relieving back pain, neck pain or joint pain
Preventing a potential caesarean section
What about chiropractic care and breech deliveries?
The late Larry Webster, D.C., Founder of the International Chiropractic Paediatric Association, developed a specific chiropractic analysis and adjustment which enables chiropractors to establish balance in the pregnant woman’s pelvis and reduce undue stress to her uterus and supporting ligaments. This balanced state in the pelvis makes it easier for a breech baby to turn naturally. The technique is known as the Webster Technique.
Post-natal:
After your pregnancy, chiropractic can help to ensure that the loosened ligaments and joints to get back into their proper places. A spinal check-up is recommended for mother and baby to assist in enabling optimal nervous system function.
Which one, you may ask….in fact, many of my chiropractic patients ask me all the time which is best. Well, questions like this always depends on the individual and their personal needs. Both Yoga and Pilates work in supporting your body, mainly the muscular system. Core muscle strength is one of the Health Benefits of Yoga and Pilates.
A little background from a chiropractic perspective:
The muscles of the abdomen, the back and the buttocks all support the spine. These are the core muscles. If these core muscles are weak, they often contribute to the root of back pain, especially lower back pain.
Muscles are the spine’s main support system. Strengthening the muscles that support the spine with exercises can assist in preventing, reducing and even eliminating back pain.
Strong abdominal muscles (primarily the deep abs) are as important as strong back muscles for supporting the lower back and preventing lower back pain. Strong quadriceps (front of thigh muscles) are important to prevent back injuries when lifting. Proper lifting techniques involve using your legs. If your legs are weak, you may end up using your back, which can lead to injury.
Shortened muscles can throw the spine out of alignment and cause back pain. Stretching exercises lengthen shortened muscles and help to relieve back pain. Tight back muscles, tight buttocks muscles, and even tight hamstrings (back of thigh muscles) or quadriceps (front of thigh muscles), can affect the alignment of the spine. Stretching the back with stretching exercises also increases mobility of the joints of the spine.
Flexible and strong muscles help maintain proper posture and prevent back strains and sprains.
Here are the basic differences to help give a better understanding between Yoga and Pilates.
Yoga
Yoga is aimed to unite the mind, the body, and the spirit. Yoga’s view is that the mind and the body are one, and that if it is given the right tools and taken to the right environment, it can find harmony and heal itself. Yoga therefore is considered therapeutic. It helps you become more aware of your body’s posture, alignment and patterns of movement. It makes the body more flexible and helps you relax even in the midst of a stress stricken environment. Benefits include feeling more fit, more energetic, balanced and peaceful. Your own body’s weight is used for resistance from one posture into another. There are several different Yoga styles. It boils down to personal preference and individual needs.
One example and a common one is Vinyasa Yoga. Vinyasa Yoga makes use of modified yoga poses that are designed to enhance healing, flexibility and strength of joints. The poses also intend to promote the feeling of well-being and strength. The emphasis of this branch of Yoga practice is on coordinating breath and movement. Practices may also include meditation, reflection, study and other classic elements.
Pilates
Pilates is aimed at reaching similar goals with a series of controlled movements. The major difference is that the Pilates technique has a full complement of mat work, as well as incorporates work on the Pilates machines. The emphasis of the exercises is to strengthen the abdominals, improve posture, stabilise and lengthen the spine, improve balance and overall strength.
Pilates works the whole body, emphasizing control, precision and concentration in both the mind and the body. The focus is on quality not quantity, so movements are not performed rapidly or repeated excessively. The abdominal muscles, lower back and buttocks (“powerhouse”) serve as the centre of all movement, allowing the rest of the body to move freely. This focus on core stabilization makes one stronger from the inside out and is critical for advancement. The low impact nature of Pilates makes it ideal for injury prevention and rehabilitation. The balance between strength and flexibility creates a healthy, vigorous and symmetrical workout for all muscle groups resulting in a leaner, more balanced, and stronger body.
Are you still left with a question of which of these two fitness techniques is right for you? Here’s an answer for you: do them both! You don’t necessarily have to choose. The nature of the techniques makes it easy for them to complement each other. Get the stretch from Yoga and keep it from Pilates. Strengthen your abdominals and watch your poses improve. Join the breathing techniques of Pilates and meditative aspect of Yoga into your daily routine and see the stress of your everyday life begin to dissipate. Both techniques are time-proven and established, and with the help of an experienced instructor, you will surely reach the goals you set up for yourself!
Posted by chiropam on May 19, 2009 in Chiropractic
You may ask, what is this? Or you may know someone who has suffered from this. It is a rare condition that has been described as, “the worst pain in the world”. Trigeminal Neuralgia is also known as, “tic douloureux“. It is very difficult to understand because people look normal, and like a lot of painful conditions, no one can appreciate how painful something is unless they go through it themselves. Now this is not something you would wish on your worst enemy. Until I had an actual patient with the condition, did I take some extra time to learn more about it.
When I studied chiropractic in university, it was one of the conditions that we learned. We were also told that it wasn’t something we would see every day in practice. While that proved to be the case, it was most important to the patient experiencing the pain of the condition. So I did some extra research myself to best understand and help to manage as best as I could professionally.
The trigeminal nerve is a cranial nerve that is responsible for sensation in the face (sensory) and supplying the jaw muscles used in chewing (motor).
Classic Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) Symptoms:
Abrupt very sharp pain that comes and goes; not a constant ache.
95 to 98% of pain is limited to one side of the face: left nerve affects left side; right nerve affects right side.
Confined pain to the area distributed by one or more branches of the trigeminal nerve.
Usually provoked by a light breeze or touch of the face, or a movement such as yawning, talking, eating.
Runs in cycles usually, and can disappear for weeks, months, even years before returning.
More Than Just The Face…
The pain is excruciating enough, but there are other factors that result from TN:
Very tiring living with sharp and chronic pain
Strain on emotions
Stressful to the point of anxiety
Strain on families and relationships
Increased levels of frustration
Anger
Depression
Other Causes Of Face Pains:
Trigeminal Neuritis
Temporal Arteritis
Cluster Headache
Facial Migraine
Myofascial Pain
Atypical Odontalgia (toothache)
Sinusitis
Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Disorder
Occipital Neuralgia
There is no lab test to diagnose TN, so when seeking treatment the most accurate description of the pain is crucial to come up with the proper diagnosis. It is a team effort – between the patient and the practitioner.
I recommend you educate yourself a bit first – there are books and/or internet articles. Remember there is a lot of information out there, so try not to get too overwhelmed. Pick a few that seem to grab your attention and make sense to you. Doctors aren’t always right, so communication is the key; along with patience and understanding from both the patient and practitioner. This ensures better outcomes.
There are many different treatments including: prescription drugs which are usually very heavy duty narcotics or local anesthetic injections. There is the potential to experience serious side effects due to the strength of the narcotics.
Alternative treatments
These alternatives can be used alone or in combination with more invasive treatment. This is not a comprehensive list:
My professional opinion is that surgery should always be the last resort. As you have read, there are quite a few alternative therapies to try and different medicines to treat TN. A lot of patients have reported combinations work well too, not necessarily just one therapy.
Physical relief is just one way to deal with TN. On the other side of the coin, there are coping strategies to help better tolerate the pain:
Keep busy – constructive and distracted from the pain
Positive attitude
Live in the present
Treat yourself – don’t forget how to have fun
Relax
Visualise
To conclude, here are some day to day tips from TN sufferers to fellow TN sufferers to consider:
Hip pain can afflict a wide range of ages. It is not just a natural part of the ‘aging process’. Pain in the hip can actually be caused by a variety of things. It may originate from degeneration within the joint itself, referred pain from the lower back, or from chronic tendinitis of the gluteal muscles. Hip pain may also result from inflammatory conditions or from improper biomechanics in the knee and ankle or foot.
Making sure your pelvis, low back, hips, knees, ankles and feet are in the proper alignment and moving well may help alleviate hip pain and may prevent recurrent episodes. It is important to first identify the cause of the hip pain, not just treat the symptomatic area. When this is addressed, it is then essential to increase strength and regain mobility in the hip area and help return to previous level of activity.
Degenerative and pathological conditions of the hip can present with a broad range of diagnostic mysteries. For every patient who comes in complaining of pain and discomfort that he or she correctly traces to the hip, there is likely to be another patient with symptoms from the lower back, to the buttocks, to the legs, that eventually can be traced to a hip condition. On the other hand, conditions like hernia, aneurysm, and iliopsoas bursitis, with no direct hip connection, can cause what a patient may perceive as hip or groin pain.
Hip disease itself manifests as pain in the groin that may radiate all around the thigh and even to the knee. Although a significant number of people present with hip pain, the real challenge is making sure that hip and thigh pain really is a pathology of the hip and not a referred intra-abdominal or retroperitoneal pain.”
Some patients may complain of pain that initially seemed to have nothing to do with the hip, but upon closer questioning and examination, had at least some of its origins there.
Common Causes
Contrary to some belief, age-related degenerative conditions are not the only cause of hip pain, particularly osteoarthritis of the hip joint. Osteoarthritis isn’t always the reason -it may actually be the ultimate result of damage done to the hip earlier.
Some of the leading causes of hip problems that actually originate within and around the hip include:
Overuse injuries and repetitive motion or gait problems
Acute injuries, such as fractures, sprains, strains to the lower limb.
Avascular necrosis
Infections in the joint or bone near the hip -these are usually accompanied by fever, redness, and/or swelling.
After comprehensive examination and diagnosis, the treatment goal should not only be to decrease the patient’s pain levels, but assist in increasing the range of motion in the hip and lower back and restoring proper function. In addition, providing lifestyle options, such as postural changes, core stabilization, how to assume a neutral spine, and home exercises including stretching and strengthening will all assist in limiting stress on the low back and hips.
We live in a society where either posture is not taught, or it is taught in such a way that kids come to resent it, meaning they have a parent or grandparent that is always telling them “don’t slouch” or “stand up straight!” Typically when this happens, a person’s first reaction is to thrust their shoulders back and stick their lower back out which in turn creates even more of a problem. Holding your shoulders rigidly back, and putting too much curve in your lower spine can cause just as many problems as slumping with shoulders rolled forward. Even though this is what is often thought of as appropriate posture, it actually is not.
Whatever the reasons for bad posture, whether it be poorly designed desks when we are in school, bosses who don’t have ergonomic chairs for those who sit at a computer all day, or just our own misunderstanding of what good posture is, bad posture has become a real problem for all of society.
Bad posture can be caused by a number of reasons such as, sitting for too long, standing for too long, being depressed or anxious, using poorly designed furniture, and stress. However, whatever a person’s reason for poor posture, anyone can change their posture at any time with just a little effort. Keep in mind it is not necessary to expend large amounts of effort on good posture. Remember that holding shoulders rigidly back, and having excessive curve in the lower back is not good posture, but simply another form of bad posture.
Bad posture may cause back problems, and exacerbate existing health problems even if the existing health problems such as a seasonal cold aren’t severe or permanent. So, what can you do to improve your poor posture?
The first thing you want to do when it comes to improving your posture is to become aware and understand what good posture really is. Good posture is when your spine is straight but with a slight curve in the lower spine, and your shoulders are rolled back just a bit (but not rigidly so) so that it is as if your shoulder blades could slide down your back. Your chin should be level with the ground, not drooping as if it were going to tuck into your chest.
The best way to get an idea of this is to stand up straight, but not too rigid. Imagine there is a metal string hanging from a hook in your ceiling that is attached to the top of your head. Pretend that this string can pull up just enough to align all the bones in your skeleton just right so that your head, neck and shoulders are aligned with your spine and on down to your feet. This is what it is like to have good posture. You can perform the same test when sitting, just make sure you have a chair that allows your feet to rest flat on the ground. If you are a woman wearing heels, they automatically throw your spine out of alignment by tipping your pelvis unnaturally forward.
Some other things you can do to improve your posture are using an ergonomic chair (with lumbar support) at your desk, and/or lower your chair so that your feet rest flat on the floor while you are sitting at your desk. A footrest may help too. Another is not to sit for long periods of time without getting up and walking around a bit, even if it is just to walk around your desk or cubicle space. You should also take time to stretch, or better yet begin practicing Office Yoga which are yoga postures you can do at your desk. Taking classes such as yoga or tai chi or Pilates that emphasize good posture can help as well.
When you find yourself slumping or sliding back into your old posture habits don’t be too hard on yourself. Instead simply be gentle and kind with yourself and begin to practice good posture again. In time good posture will become a habit. Remind yourself with sticky notes at your computer or around the house wherever you spend the most time. When it does you will notice that you feel a lot better. You may even find that you can handle stress better as well. These are only a few of the benefits of good posture, there are many others such as less or no back pain. Improving your posture will improve the quality of your life.
Feeling the winter blues? Tired of catching colds that go around? Rather than taking something to simply cover up the symptoms, how about some advice on avoiding them in the first place? The best treatment is often prevention. Here we show you how to boost your immune system through natural means like exercise, nutrition and more, so you can get through winter unscathed.
Look To Nature
The great thing about herbs is that they improve your immune system, rather than attack a bug. Naturopathy focuses on the natural herbs nature has to offer.
A Positive Outlook
A positive outlook on life can help ward off colds, flu and infections. People with an optimistic outlook on life tend to have higher levels of immune-system weaponry (T-cells and natural killer cells) than pessimistic people. You may not be able to change your situation at a certain moment, but you can change your attitude.
Foods and Fluids
If your body is lacking in certain nutrients, your immune system will certainly suffer. So eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, which contain antioxidants.
Immune-boosting properties from carotenoids are found in yellow and orange fruit and vegetables like carrots, pumpkin, oranges and apricots as well as green leafy vegetables like spinach and broccoli.
Increase the garlic and onion in your meals. Eat raw, freshly-crushed garlic – it has antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties. It is a natural immune booster.
Vitamin C found in citrus fruits and berries may help improve resistance to infection.
Include plenty of zinc and iron, found in lean red meat, poultry, seafood, wholegrains and nuts, in your diet. They’re not antioxidants, but they are also thought to keep the immune system healthy.
Drink plenty of water and/or herbal teas; eliminate caffeine-containing fluids like coffee and soft drinks.
Avoid sugar – as it can decrease the immune system’s activity.
Curb your stress levels – Some Stress is Good
People tend to talk about stress as if it’s all bad. It’s not.
Some stress is good for you. Public speakers, for example have to get their stress response to a certain optimal level so that they can perform in front of an audience. Otherwise, it may come across as lethargic and listless.
However, while some stress is good, too much is not. If you’re too stressed, your performance can diminish. The objective should be not to get rid of stress completely because you can’t get rid of stress — stress is life, life is stress. Rather, you need to be able to use your stress response optimally.”
The key is to learn to move yourself to that optimal peak point so that you’re not underperforming but you’re also not so stressed that you’re unable to perform. The challenge is knowing our limits – how much we’re actually able to handle.
The goal should be to try to learn to control your stress to make it work for you. Don’t just think of getting rid of your stress; think of turning it to your advantage.
Let Your Emotions Out
Expressing your emotions can be good for your health. Repressing emotions after a traumatic event can lower the function of the immune system compared to those who share their feelings.
Therapeutic Massage
Receiving a therapeutic massage can boost the immune system and promote lymph flow. It can aid in removing toxins, lead to less anxiety and improve the function of the immune system.
Exercise
Regular exercise supports general health and immune function. It promotes healthy blood circulation and drives the lymphatic system.
While professional athletes and those who train intensely have weakened immune systems, studies show that moderate exercise strengthens the immune system.
People who exercise regularly have about 25 percent fewer colds than those who seldom or never exercised.
We need adequate rest to allow the body to repair itself.
Rest and Relaxation
A good night’s sleep can also significantly boost the immune system. There are potent immune enhancing compounds released during sleep and immune functions are increased significantly by an adequate night’s rest.
Doing things you enjoy helps to decrease stress levels, especially if we are inspired to do something, rather than doing things because we have to.
A well-rested person’s immune system may respond more strongly that of a sleep-deprived person’s.
Your body requires more sleep during the winter months – so get to bed a bit earlier!
Chiropractic Maintenance Care
A regular visit to the chiropractor may greatly enhance your body’s immune system in combination with the abovementioned topics. By aligning your spine, the nervous system (which also affects the immune system) can function optimally.
Chiropractic is an art, science and philosophy focusing on a nervous system free from interference to allow the body to reach it’s optimum potential, naturally.
Chiropractic is a main passion and interest in my life. Not only is it my profession, but a way to connect the mind and body; a lifestyle - a natural way to allow your body to heal itself, and so much more. It is about looking at the entire body. Our bodies act as a whole unit - from Above, Down, Inside, Out! I love serving the community and being pro-active in making a difference…both individually and collectively as a whole.
