New Research on Breech Births & Chiropractic

Recent research reported in the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic on a pregnant woman reveals that chiropractic may play an important role in helping pregnant women deliver normally. “Research is revealing that chiropractic care can play a crucial role during pregnancy, labor and delivery” stated Dr. Matthew McCoy, a chiropractor, public health researcher and editor of the journal that published the study.

CLICK HERE to review the study 

Despite widespread education and efforts to curb dangerous birthing interventions such as caesarean sections, their use remains high and concerns amongst health care advocates is growing. The concern centers around the use of high-risk interventions for “convenience” of the doctor or mother without taking into consideration the long term effects of a traumatic birth on the child. 

“It makes a lot of sense when you think about it” stated Dr. McCoy. “We see this shocking increase in the number of interventional procedures during birth when there are alternatives such as the use of chiropractic to allow the mother and child to have a normal birth. We need to take advantage of these advances.” 

As pointed out in the paper, chiropractic can play a beneficial role during pregnancy and the birth process in cases where the mother is experiencing some type of obstruction of her pelvis and related musculature that is interfering with the baby’s position or the delivery process. 

“The goal is for the mother to be checked prior to the time of delivery so that these problems can be corrected beforehand” remarked Dr. McCoy adding “While this is a single case study, coupled with numerous other case studies and some larger clinical studies that have shown similar outcomes, it’s time that health care providers started taking it seriously.” 

The patient reported on in this study was a 31-year-old female presenting to the chiropractor at 25 weeks pregnant.  Her obstetrician had confirmed her baby was in a breech position.  She developed lower back pain after carrying her one-year old child around on her hip.  As the pain got worse, it became constant and sharp which interfered with all activities. 

The woman was examined by the chiropractor who found structural shifts in her neck and pelvis. These structural shifts can lead to obstruction of the nerves and it is this obstruction, called vertebral subluxations, that chiropractors correct. The patient was managed with chiropractic care for a total of ten adjustments, over a seven-week period. On the ninth visit, the patient reported that the baby was no longer breech as determined by her obstetrician via ultrasound.  

The study’s author called for additional research to investigate the clinical implications of chiropractic in pregnancy with breech presentation.