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“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.
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 28-year-old female presenting to the chiropractor at 39 weeks pregnant. She was hoping to have a vaginal birth as her last delivery was by c-section. Her obstetrician had confirmed her baby was in a transverse lie position. She had some pain down the back of her leg for which she was taking an anti-inflammatory medication.
The woman was examined by the chiropractor who found structural shifts in her neck, midback, and pelvis, in additional to muscle imbalance. 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 four adjustments, over a two-week period. The transverse fetus turned vertex and was confirmed via ultrasound. She went on the have a successful vaginal birth after cesarean.
The study’s author called for additional research to investigate the clinical implications of chiropractic in pregnancy with transverse presentation.
Contact Information:
Matthew McCoy DC, MPH
Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic
http://www.chiropracticpediatricresearch.com
support@vertebralsubluxationresearch.com