For many women, seeing a prenatal chiropractor is part of a plan to prevent or manage common pregnancy “complaints” like morning sickness, acid reflux, restlessness, swelling, aches and pains.

Many expectant mothers also utilize chiropractor care for support for a smoother delivery and postnatal period. There’s also another major reason for seeing a chiropractor during pregnancy. Pelvic misalignment can be an uncomfortable and painful issue for many women that has lasting effects.

What Is Pelvic Misalignment?

During pregnancy, alignment changes within the pelvic bone are fairly common as changes in body weight and composition occur. As a result, women often experience painful pelvic tilting that creates unevenness in the spine. The loosening and softening of ligaments in preparation for delivery can contribute to misalignments. A pelvic misalignment can bring about a number of painful symptoms and complications.

Pelvic misalignment can lead to pain, discomfort, urinary incontinence and other complications. Some signs of pelvic misalignment can include:

• Pain in the back and hips
• An unbalanced walk
• Poor spine alignment

About 80 percent of women will experience pelvic pain at some point during pregnancy. For some women, it is an intermittent, mild pain. Other women will experience deep, wrenching pain that makes it feel as though the pelvis is splitting apart. Delivery isn’t necessarily the “cure” for pregnancy-related pelvic pain. The widening of the pelvis that occurs during pregnancy does not decrease immediately after delivery. What’s more, pelvic issues that begin in pregnancy can be exacerbated during delivery.

How Do Chiropractors Treat Pelvic Misalignment in Pregnancy?

In an ideal situation, you’d see a chiropractor before the pain reaches a severe point. Seeking a pelvic alignment as soon as the first twinges of pain and discomfort show up can help to restore balance to the central nervous system to avoid further compression and tilting.

However, any time is better than never when it comes to correcting a pelvic misalignment. This even applies after delivery. A misalignment won’t necessarily correct on its own just because the prenatal period is over. In fact, many women experience movement and mobility issues for years following pregnancy because they haven’t been told about pelvic misalignments. They are instead told that this is simply how life is supposed to be after having a baby!

A chiropractor uses specialized, pregnancy-friendly techniques to restore the pelvis back into alignment with the structure of the spine when a pelvic misalignment occurs. In addition to restoring comfort, this also restores the nervous system’s ability to function properly. In addition to getting the pelvis back into alignment, a chiropractor provides special exercises that can be used to strengthen the pelvis and surrounding areas.

Get Help for Pelvic Misalignment From a Prenatal Chiropractor in Salt Lake City

Specializing in all forms of prenatal chiropractic care, Dr. Tiffani Fries can help you address pelvic misalignment at any stage of your prenatal or postpartum experience. Since 2002, Dr. Fries and Genesis Chiropractic have been offering cutting-edge, gentle chiropractic services for pregnant women throughout Salt Lake City, Utah; Millcreek, Utah; and Holladay, Utah.

For more information about correcting a pelvic misalignment, contact Genesis Chiropractic or book your appointment.