New Research Sheds Light on Pelvic Pain During Pregnancy

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 with pelvic pain.

CLICK HERE to review the research 

“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. 

“It makes a lot of sense when you think about it” stated Dr. McCoy. “Increased mobility and/or asymmetry of the pelvic joints make the pelvic area vulnerable to pain during pregnancy.  Alterations in the skeletal biomechanics result in mechanical stress leading to vertebral subluxations. Chiropractors find and correct these subluxations.  We need to take advantage of this.” 

As pointed out in the paper, chiropractic can play a beneficial role during pregnancy and in cases where the mother is experiencing some type of obstruction of her pelvis and related musculature that is interfering with how the pelvis accommodates the growing uterus.  

“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 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 pregnant woman in this study had been experiencing pubic pain for several weeks.  The pain was constant, sharp, throbbing, burning, and aching, being the worse pain, she ever had.  Swimming gave temporary relief only for the time that she was in the water.  She also experienced neck and low back pain.  She did not enjoy being pregnant and did not want to be pregnant again. 

The chiropractor examined her and found structural shifts in her neck, low back, pubic, and pelvis.  Muscle imbalance, spasms, decreased range of motion confirmed these findings.  These structural shifts can lead to obstruction of the nerves and it is this obstruction, called vertebral subluxations, that chiropractors correct. 

Following chiropractic adjustments, her pubic pain resolved and her neck and low back pain improved. 

The study’s author called for additional research to investigate the clinical implications of chiropractic in this population.

Contact Information: 

Matthew McCoy DC, MPH
Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic
http://www.chiropracticpediatricresearch.com
support@vertebralsubluxationresearch.com