Osteopathic Treatment During Your Pregnancy 

Pregnancy

As your little being develops inside you, you will probably feel the desire to take even better care of yourself to assist your child’s development and your body’s ability to adjust to the demands of hormonal, postural and emotional changes.

Each trimester holds different wonders and challenges and you will likely need different support from treatment with us as your pregnancy progresses.

For many years we have used our skills to help relieve the aches and pains caused by weight and posture changes during pregnancy.

Pre Pregnancy and The 1st Trimester

We check your posture and identify areas of tension and weakness.  Pre pregnancy is the ideal time to reduce pre existing areas of tension that may predispose you to back pain, sciatica, carpal tunnel syndrome, heart burn etc. 

Because the first trimester is a time of incredible development for the embryo in addition to your body adjusting to different hormones your treatment with us will be gentle and supportive this trimester.

2nd Trimester

This trimester is a time when treatment is extremely effective for many of the aches and pains you may be feeling in addition to some of the things you thought you just had to ‘put up with’.  Many clients are surprised that we that can help with the digestive issues of pregnancy (most commonly heart burn and constipation).

Common problems we can often help with during this trimester include heart burn, head aches, constipation, low back  pain, sciatica, upper back and rib pain.

Often we see women who’ve had a difficult time during their first pregnancy and are worried that the same fate awaits them during this pregnancy - here is a fairly typical story in the words of one of our clients:

3rd Trimester

In the 3rd trimester we continue to work on any problems you have been struggling with but we now start to focus on your physical readiness for birth.  Your focus will also be changing as you get closer to your due date and you will want to feel prepared for birth.

This is how we can help get your body ready for birth:

-Correct imbalances and strains in the pelvis - it’s important that the sacrum and coccyx are mobile so they can move forwards and backwards as the baby moves through the birth canal.

-Release tension from the pelvic floor - this muscular area needs to work effectively and be free to stretch.  We can help reduce tension with treatment and give you exercises and stretches that you can do at home.

-Release tension from your spine (especially the low back) - the physical demands of labour require that your spine is mobile so that you can move into various different positions during labour.  You need flexibility throughout your spine to do this but the low back is a focal area given it’s proximity to the uterus and the pelvis.

Post Pregnancy - Treatment After Labour For You and Your Baby

Now is the time to have a couple of treatments to heal from birth and get the beneficial support of cranial osteopathy (cranio sacral therapy) to help with emotional adjustments in addition to your physical needs.  Your baby should also be checked for birth strains - even in births with no interventions we find that infants tend to get strains that can be released to help them adjust to their new environment and  to the demands of using their digestive and breathing systems in a new way.

Useful Tips For Your Pregnancy

Exercises

These simple and effective exercises will help loosen tight muscles and joints- especially in your hips, low back, mid back and ribcage - these are common problem areas during pregnancy so these exercises will help keep you mobile.  You can do these exercises daily on their own or as a warm up before you do other forms of exercise.

Books We’ve Enjoyed

Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year by Susan S Weed

Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin

Pregnancy Tea Suggestions From Dr. Tas Kassam ND

Nettle Tea: High in Vitamin K to prevent miscarriage and hemorrhage; high in every mineral and vitamin for human growth and health; nourishes and strengthens the kidneys; eases leg cramps and spasms due to high calcium content; reduces hemorrhoids; helps to stimulate milk production.

Red Raspberry Leaf Tea: Tones uterine muscles thereby preventing hemorrhage and miscarriage; easily assimilated calcium and iron; easier birth by making contractions more effective; stimulates breast milk production.