GETTING ADJUSTED AFTER CHILDBIRTH & NEWBORN BABY ADJUSTMENTS
by Dr. Arlo Gordin
Here's an important sector of natural health care that brings lots of pain relief, happiness and lasting improved health.
First let's consider the advantage of getting Chiropractic care while you're pregnant. There are physical challenges of pregnancy to your spine and back. You carry your baby and a large weight in your tummy. That places unusual weight and pressure supported by and pulling on your spine, especially mid- and lower-back. So that's the first need that is served by Chiropractic during your pregnancy; getting adjusted let's you feel better, sense less pain and also be more healthy as a pregnant mommy. That briefly stated, let's move our attention to what Chiropractic does for you immediately after you give birth.
Here there is a boost given naturally. If you had the true luxury of birthing with a midwife, she probably told you about Relaxin, the body's hormone that is released just before delivery. That hormone makes the ligaments of your body more stretchy and flexible so that your pelvis can open and get the baby out! You may not have learned that in the 1st and 2nd 24-hours after baby's delivery, that hormone Relaxin is cleared by your body and it leaves your bloodstream. Those temporarily more stretchy ligaments (and all ligaments in your body, in your entire spine, even in your arms and legs) are made firm and tight once again. The stretchiness and extra flexibility they needed for delivery leaves them when the Relaxin hormone leaves your blood.
This offers a unique risk and a unique opportunity. Both. The risk is that, if there is distortion to your body's structure that occurred in the process of labor and delivery, and it wasn't corrected when your body cleared the Relaxin from your bloodstream, then those distortions can be locked in by the Relaxin's departure from the blood. Let's clarify. What distortions? If you were to twist, torque or misalign your body that would cause distortion....but what would cause those types of misalignments in the process of your labor? Answer: If you have pain, like the pain of labor, those signals can and will spill over into nerves that can contract or even spasm, pulling on vertebrae of your spine or other structural key areas and misaligning or distorting them by that muscle pull.
Where medical means are used, such as injecting anesthesia with long needles into the spine, to ease pain of delivery, the body's receiving the pain and "insult" of the needle being stuck into you can cause a sharp pain nerve signal that can spill over into muscle contracting nerves. Those nerve signals and resulting uneven muscle contractions can and will pull body structures and spinal vertebrae too into distortion. When those distortions cause "subluxations", misalignments of spine or other key structures that mess with good nerve transmission and communication coming from and also travelling through those areas. The nerve "short circuits" those represent can and will mess with the area's muscles, blood flows, and organs controlled by those very nerves.
This is the reason you may hear a mother's lament: "Ever since the birth of little Joey, I've had pain in my_________(fill in the blank). Or "Ever since the birth of my Jackie, I've not had complete control of ________" or "I've had recurrent___________infections since the birth of my child." (Fill in the blanks.) That's the unique health risk and the bad ultimate effects that could occur. How do you prevent those? Get properly checked and adjusted for anything that is "out" right after delivery! Best if you can do that by about 24 hours. By doing that you can expect to prevent these types of problems occurring.
That's the best time also to have your new baby checked carefully Chiropractically: (there's a lot of pressure in birth, for the baby to get out through that little space!). I test for any nerve "short circuits". That means check baby's neck, head, jaw, shoulders, spine and all vertebrae, pelvis, arms, hands, legs, feet. The works. If something isn't right, I adjust it and fix it. Best rule: Have your baby checked thoroughly and adjusted properly right after coming into this world. Your baby will be healthier, happier, and functionally more perfect by having done so.
Now at the same time you Mommy have the Unique Risk of having things get more distorted while relaxin is in the system, you get the Unique Advantage of getting adusted while relaxin is still in the system. And getting the best adjustment of your lifetime! Why is that? Because when an excellent Chiropractor (better yet an Advanced Applied Kinesiologist) finds and fixes (adjusts) the problems you've got while Relaxin is in your blood, the things he aligns and puts right tend to "lock in" to the place they're in. Then when the Relaxin is removed by your body from your blood, those corrections are better and more lasting. So it's the same reason why there is a unique downside and a unique upside of having Relaxin in your bloodstream. If you are more distorted when Relaxin leaves, you will have the distortions "locked in". If you are more correctly aligned and adjusted when Relaxin leaves, you will have those corrections "locked in". The moral of this story: get yourself adjusted right after giving birth.
What is the other brilliant benefit of being checked chiropractically and adjusted right after giving birth? Many mommies tends to have pain, for some very unpleasant pain, after delivery. That pain usually may be in your lower body, sometimes in your groin or areas around your hips. When I adjust those for you properly (and gently) you will typically sense a tremendous sense of pain reduction and relief. With a capital R. And be a more relaxed and happier Mommy.
So there you have it: an understanding of the application and unique aspects and opportunity for health that you have by seeing me, your Chiropractor with your baby right after giving birth.