Natural Labour
Natural Labour
We recommend that all pregnant women have chiropractic treatment if they wish to improve their chances of a natural non interventional birth. While more research is needed the benefits are compelling.
Difficult labour (Dystocia) can occur if the birth / pelvic canal (made up by the pelvic bones) is diminished in size or obstructed (13). If the sacroiliac (pelvic) joints are misaligned they alter the shape of the birth canal (14). The Active Birth seminars at Lincoln County Hospital and NCT antenatal classes are making pregnant women aware that the pelvic canal can be widened by 28% in a women NOT lying down. Unfortunately if the sacroiliac joints are misaligned this widening affect can be reduced. Chiropractors are aware of this and can realign them.
There are ligaments from the pelvic bones to the uterus which support the growing uterus(15). If the pelvic bones are out of alignment one ligament can pull more than another twisting the uterus which can become asymmetric. This is a cause of Intrauterine Constraint (16) whereby the amount of room available for the developing baby is restricted. This is thought to decrease the likelihood of the baby’s head engaging in the ideal position.
A survey of 187 Chiropractors in the USA who frequently treat pregnant women found they claimed an 82% success rate in relieving musculoskeletal causes of intrauterine constraint. (17) More study is needed here as this has major implications in reducing obstetric interventions during labour and helping more women have a natural labour.
We recommend any women with intrauterine constraint tries chiropractic treatment. We also recommend treatment for women that have suffered with back pain before their pregnancy or start having back pain during pregnancy as treatment may prevent intrauterine constraint before it starts.
A study observing women who had chiropractic treatment during their pregnancy found they had shorter than average (18). First time mums were 24% quicker than average and mums already with one or more child labour was 33% quicker than the average. We think this is due to these women having well aligned sacroiliac joints so the baby’s progress down the birth canal was not impeded. Other studies discovered pregnant patients who had chiropractic treatment were significantly less likely to have severe back pain during labour and had a reduced the need for all forms of pain relief during the labour (11&19).
Want to know more about labour and birth link to link to www.nctpregnancyandbabycare.com