Pregnancy Chiropractor in Arlington Heights, IL
Pregnancy is an exciting time. But it can also be an uncomfortable time. At Sleigh Family Chiropractic, we understand the joy and anticipation you may be experiencing—along with the aches and pains that may make you feel miserable. You may feel like you have to suffer through pregnancy because you don’t want to take many common pain-relieving medications. Fortunately, prenatal chiropractic care provides a safe and natural option for managing discomfort.
We are here to tell you that we can help! Chiropractic care is very safe and effective throughout pregnancy. Our doctors are not only parents but also provide gentle pregnancy chiropractic care designed to support your body as it adapts to the many physical changes that occur during pregnancy. They are all specially trained prenatal chiropractic techniques, and have received certification through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association.
Chiropractic Care During Pregnancy in Arlington Heights, IL
Throughout pregnancy, the body is constantly changing. As your baby grows, the normal weight gain increases the demand on the muscles and ligaments of your spine and pelvis, which alone can lead to a good deal of discomfort. Pregnancy also causes your center of gravity to shift, forcing you to compensate with improper posture.
The most common posture change is an increased curve in the lower back, which can put extra stress on the joints in the lower back, leading to lower back pain. It can also create imbalances and tightness in muscles like the iliopsoas. There are also higher levels of the hormone relaxin, which causes the muscles, connective tissue, and joints to loosen and stretch, allowing the baby to grow. But these changes can also lead to a higher likelihood for spinal joint misalignment, dysfunction, and pain. It is the reason that pre-existing problems and old injuries commonly become exacerbated during pregnancy.
Also, normal things that you have always done, like holding other children, sitting at work, cleaning, and emptying the dishwasher, are more likely to create misalignments in the spinal joints as relaxin levels rise.
We recommend seeing a chiropractor as early on in pregnancy as possible to address problems when they are easier to correct. Additionally, receiving chiropractic care early in pregnancy can set you up for a more comfortable, happier, and healthier pregnancy.
Benefits of Chiropractic Care During Pregnancy
Pregnancy places significant stress on the spine, pelvis, and surrounding muscles. As the baby grows, posture changes, ligament flexibility increases, and the center of gravity shifts forward. These changes can lead to discomfort throughout the lower back, hips, and pelvis.
Receiving prenatal chiropractic care throughout pregnancy can help support the body during these changes. Chiropractic adjustments focus on restoring proper spinal alignment, improving pelvic balance, and reducing pressure on the nervous system.
Benefits of seeing a pregnancy chiropractor in Arlington Heights may include:
- Reduced lower back and pelvic pain
- Improved posture during pregnancy
- Better pelvic alignment for baby positioning
- Reduced sciatic nerve pressure
- Increased comfort throughout pregnancy
Many expecting mothers understand that pregnancy chiropractic care helps them stay active, comfortable, and prepared for labor and delivery.
Common Cause of Pregnancy Pain
Low Back Pain
Lower back pain during pregnancy is COMMON, but it is NOT NORMAL. One major cause of lower back pain during pregnancy is the shift in hormone levels. When pregnant, there are higher levels of the hormone relaxin, which loosens muscles and allows all of your joints to move a lot more. This means you are more prone to subluxations and misalignments in the spine, which create stress on the nervous system and lead to pain. When the muscles begin to loosen, they become weaker, which leads to instability and pain.
Lower back pain can also be caused by the many changes that are occurring to your body throughout the entire duration of your pregnancy. Due to the added weight in the front of the belly, the pelvis shifts forward and downward, creating a greater curve in the lower back. This creates compression on the joints and the nerves. Chiropractic care focuses on aligning the pelvis and reducing subluxations within the spine, which takes pressure off of the nerves, muscles, and joints in the lower back. We also provide specific exercises that will ensure optimal healing.
Headaches
Headaches during pregnancy are very common. Approximately 39% of women experience pregnancy or postpartum headaches. These can arise from the increase in stress, both mentally and physically. During pregnancy, there are higher levels of the hormone relaxin, which allows all of the joints to become more mobile. This means that pregnant women are more susceptible to misalignments within the spine, which can create compression on nerves that travel into the head, commonly causing headaches. Pregnancy-related headaches can also be caused by lifestyle habits, so being sure you are staying physically active, eating regularly, and getting enough sleep is important in preventing headaches from arising.
Symphysis Pubis Disorder (SPD)
Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (also known as Lightning Crotch) affects approximately 60% of women during pregnancy. This is a sharp pain that is felt at the front of the pelvis that can travel into the groin or upper thigh. The pubic symphysis is generally an immobile joint. However, as the hormone relaxin rises during pregnancy, this joint becomes much more flexible and mobile. As the pelvis misaligns, this joint also tends to misalign and create significant discomfort. Another reason for Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction is when the inner thigh muscles, which attach to the front of the pelvis, get too tight, pulling the pelvis unevenly.
Chiropractic adjustments will ensure the sacrum, pelvis, and pubic bone are aligned properly, reducing pain. We will also provide home therapies that will ensure the inner thigh muscles are loose while the glute muscles remain smooth and strong, allowing your body to hold and maintain proper alignment of the pelvis.
Round Ligament Pain
The round ligaments connect the uterus to the front of the pelvis. These ligaments stretch as the uterus grows, which can cause achey to sharp pain just below and to the side of the belly button and at times into the pubic region. Many pregnant women feel round ligament discomfort when changing positions, coughing, sneezing, laughing, walking, and/or exercising. Approximately 10–30% of pregnant women experience round ligament pain, which typically occurs in the first and second trimesters. Pain typically occurs from the rapid growth of babies, although it can also arise when the pelvis is out of alignment. Because the round ligaments connect to the pelvis, there can be asymmetrical pulling of the round ligaments when the pelvis is not aligned properly. This is why chiropractic adjustments are so beneficial. Our chiropractors at Sleigh Family Chiropractic ensures that the pelvis is aligned properly, allowing the uterus to sit in the best position, reducing round ligament pain.
Breech Baby
The ideal position for your baby in your womb is called the vertex position, which means that the baby’s head is downward with his or her spine facing away from Mom’s spine. The breech position occurs when the baby is positioned with its feet or bottom down. If the pelvis is misaligned, a baby may stay in the breech position. The uterus, which holds the baby, is in the pelvis’s center and has round ligaments that connect it to the pelvis’s front.
When the pelvis is not in the proper alignment, it has a direct impact on how the uterus sits, possibly altering how the baby is positioned. Chiropractic care is a great way to encourage optimal baby position. At Sleigh Family Chiropractic, we use the Webster Technique to restore alignment and balance in the pelvis and surrounding ligaments to allow your baby to get into that ideal position for birth. There are times when the breech position is due to physiological circumstances such as a short umbilical cord or the cord being wrapped around the baby’s neck. In these cases, chiropractic care is still very safe because we do not put any pressure on baby, but optimal positioning of your baby may not occur.
Urinary Incontinence
Urinary incontinence is COMMON during pregnancy and the postpartum period, but it is NOT NORMAL. It is actually a sign that the pelvic floor is not functioning correctly. During pregnancy, there is added pressure on the pelvic floor muscles from your growing baby. Many people believe that urinary incontinence is caused by weak pelvic floor muscles (which is sometimes true), but more often it arises from a lack of brain-body connection. This means your body is unable to determine when it needs to contract and when to relax the pelvic floor muscles, leading to urinary incontinence.
Chiropractic care will ensure proper alignment of the hips and the pelvis, reducing pressure on the nervous system and allowing your pelvic floor muscles to function the best they can. Along with chiropractic adjustments, tailored home therapies will help reconnect your brain with your core and pelvic floor muscles, which can help lessen and fix urinary incontinence.
Sciatica
The sciatic nerve is one of the largest in the body, running from the buttocks down to the leg. Sciatica is a condition that results from compression of the sciatic nerve, creating pain, numbness, and/or tingling that travels down the leg. During pregnancy you are more likely to experience sciatica due to the shift in hormones and therefore lower back & pelvis alignment. With higher levels of the hormone relaxin, your joints are more mobile. This means they can move out of alignment more easily, which results in pressure on the nerves. In particular, when the joints of the lower back and pelvis are out of alignment, the resulting nerve pressure commonly causes sciatica.
Also, when pregnant, the added weight of the baby in the front of the body causes the pelvis tends to tilt down and forward, creating more compression on the joints and muscles in the lower spine and pelvis. This can again create compression on the sciatic nerve, causing pain. Other times sciatica can arise from baby positioning within the uterus. Chiropractic care is a very safe and effective form of treatment for sciatica. Our prenatal chiropractors focus on restoring alignment and motion in the spine and pelvis, taking pressure off the nerves, and allowing the baby to get into the best position. Thus, reducing pressure on the sciatic nerve.
Pregnancy Chiropractic Care in Arlington Heights, IL: Our Chiropractic Approach
The chiropractors at Sleigh Family Chiropractic focus on supporting a healthy and comfortable pregnancy by improving spinal alignment, pelvic balance, and nervous system function. Our prenatal chiropractic care approach is designed to reduce nerve pressure, support proper pelvic alignment, and help mothers experience a more comfortable pregnancy and delivery.
We begin with a comprehensive evaluation of spinal alignment, posture, and nervous system function to determine the source of pregnancy discomfort. This assessment helps identify areas of restricted movement within the spine and pelvis that may contribute to pregnancy back pain, pelvic imbalance, or nerve pressure.
We assess posture, pelvic alignment, and joint function to determine how the body is adapting to pregnancy. This allows us to identify areas of imbalance and choose the safest and most effective approach for prenatal chiropractic care.
We provide guidance on posture, movement strategies, and prenatal exercises to help maintain spinal alignment and pelvic balance throughout pregnancy and support long-term comfort.
We provide guidance on posture, movement strategies, and prenatal exercises to help maintain spinal alignment and pelvic balance throughout pregnancy and support long-term comfort.
How We Treat Pregnant Moms In Arlington Heights, IL
Comprehensive Consultation and Exam
Before doing any sort of treatment in our office, we will first perform a comprehensive consultation and exam. We want to be sure that we know exactly what is happening in your body before recommending any treatment. First, you will meet with one of the doctors who will truly listen to your goals, concerns, and history. Then your doctor will recommend a thorough evaluation that may include palpation of the spine, posture analysis, orthopedic tests, and computerized neurological scans, which are safe during pregnancy. We want to find the cause of your pain so we can make personalized suggestions. If your main goal is to have a healthy pregnancy, we will use the evaluation to see how your body is functioning. From there, our recommendations will focus on helping you have the best pregnancy possible.
Specific Prenatal Chiropractic Care, Arlington Heights, IL
At Sleigh Family Chiropractic, we understand all of the changes that your body goes through as your baby grows. Our chiropractors have studied the effects of changes in posture, joint laxity caused by increased relaxin hormone levels, and the increased stress on your joints as your baby grows, so they can provide safe and effective prenatal chiropractic care throughout your pregnancy.
During pregnancy, our chiropractors assess your spine and pelvis for misalignments that are referred to as subluxations. These subluxations create stress on the nervous system, which can cause pain or dysfunction in the body. In addition, when the pelvis is not in the proper alignment, the position in which the baby is sitting may be affected. Chiropractic care focuses on ensuring proper alignment of the joints, which reduces the stress on the nervous system and allows your body to function the best it can. There are special techniques used during pregnancy that can reduce pain and allow the baby to get into the best position for a smoother and quicker delivery.
Custom Pregnancy Stretching Plan
In addition to ensuring that your joints are functioning as they should during pregnancy, it is also important that your muscles are functioning properly. The hormone relaxin also affects your muscles and can create weakness within the core and the muscles that support the pelvis. When there is weakness in certain muscles, it tends to create tightness in others. It is important to ensure that the weak muscles are strengthened and the tight muscles are loosened, allowing your body to function the best it can to provide you with the most optimal birth experience. Our chiropractors will recommend customized stretches and exercises for you to do at home to create stability and balance in the muscles that support your spine and pelvis.
Webster Technique Chiropractic Care in Arlington Heights, I
The Webster Technique is a specific chiropractic technique used in prenatal chiropractic care and promotes proper pelvic alignment during pregnancy. All of our doctors at Sleigh Family Chiropractic are trained and certified in the Webster Technique, which is used to balance and align the pelvis and the surrounding muscles and ligaments.
The Webster Technique chiropractic adjustment focuses on restoring balance to the pelvis and reducing tension in the ligaments that support the uterus. The birth canal is made up of the pelvic bones and sacrum. Joint misalignment can change the birth canal’s shape and imbalance the ligaments that support the uterus. As pregnancy progresses, changes in posture, ligament tension, and joint mobility can create imbalances within the pelvis. These imbalances may cause torsion and strain on the uterus, and they may affect the shape and function of the birth canal. This can contribute to discomfort or difficulty with optimal fetal positioning. The Webster Technique chiropractic adjustment focuses on restoring balance to the pelvis and reducing tension in the ligaments that support the uterus.
Prenatal chiropractic care may help make more room for the baby to move into the best position for delivery by improving pelvic alignment and relaxing the muscles around it. Ligament imbalance can cause limited space and womb tilting, making it harder for the baby to get into the right position for delivery. Rather than the baby settling into the ideal Vertex (head down facing toward your spine) position, your baby may settle into these positions: transverse (crosswise), breech (buttocks or feet first), or posterior (facing “backwards” toward your stomach).
Using the Webster Technique chiropractor approach, our doctors work to align the pelvis and balance the supporting ligaments so that baby has the best possible environment to move into the ideal birth position. This can help support a smoother, more comfortable pregnancy and delivery.
Advanced Training in Pregnancy Chiropractic
Our chiropractors have completed extensive training in pregnancy chiropractic care through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA).
Dr. Katie Sleigh earned her Doctorate of Chiropractic from Palmer College of Chiropractic and completed postgraduate certification in the Webster Technique through the ICPA. Her advanced training allows her to provide safe and effective prenatal chiropractic care in Arlington Heights.
Dr. Quintin Sleigh received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic and graduated magna cum laude. His training focuses on restoring proper spinal alignment and supporting optimal nervous system function during pregnancy.
Dr. Nicole Brashier earned her Doctorate of Chiropractic from Logan University and is certified in the Webster Technique chiropractic method. She is currently completing her Perinatal Certification through the ICPA and is also a certified BIRTHFIT professional, specializing in pregnancy and postpartum wellness.
Through this specialized training, our team provides gentle and effective pregnancy chiropractic adjustments designed to support comfort, mobility, and overall wellness throughout pregnancy.
Many expecting mothers seek a pregnancy chiropractor in Arlington Heights to help relieve back pain, pelvic discomfort, and sciatic nerve irritation while preparing the body for labor and delivery
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is chiropractic safe during pregnancy?
Chiropractic is safe and extremely beneficial during and after pregnancy. All of the doctors here at Sleigh Family Chiropractic have received extensive training in techniques specific for treating women during the entire duration of their pregnancy, including being certified in the Webster Technique. This allows them to provide the safest and most effective forms of treatment for you.
2. When should you start seeing a chiropractor during pregnancy?
As soon as you are pregnant, your body begins to undergo major changes both hormonally and physiologically. For this reason, the sooner you receive chiropractic care, the sooner we can support your body as it undergoes all the many changes that occur during pregnancy.
3. Can you go to the chiropractor in the first trimester?
You can and should see a chiropractor throughout the entire duration of your pregnancy. Chiropractic care can help reduce morning sickness and help your body adjust to the many physiological and hormonal changes that start occurring as soon as you become pregnant.
4. Is it normal to have lower back pain in early pregnancy?
It is very common to have lower back pain during early pregnancy, but it is not normal. In early pregnancy, your body is adjusting to the many changes that are occurring, including an increase in the hormone “relaxin,” which allows the joints and muscles to loosen more. This can lead to a greater number of subluxations, or joints within the spine that are not functioning as they should, creating lower back pain. Receiving chiropractic care earlier is always the best option to help support the body as it undergoes all the changes that occur with pregnancy starting in the first trimester.
5. How do you relieve pelvic pain during pregnancy?
Pelvic pain is a common complaint of many pregnant women, but it is not normal. Pelvic pain can occur when the pelvis is out of alignment and unable to function as it should. This can directly impact the position of the pubic bone, the sacrum, and the bones of the lower back. Chiropractic adjustments ensure proper motion in the joints of the lower back and proper alignment of the pelvis, taking pressure off of the nerves and reducing pain.
Start Pregnancy Chiropractic Care in Arlington Heights, IL
Gentle prenatal chiropractic care can help support proper spinal alignment, improve pelvic balance, and reduce pregnancy-related discomfort. At Sleigh Family Chiropractic, our team provides safe and effective pregnancy chiropractic care in Arlington Heights to help expecting mothers stay comfortable and healthy throughout pregnancy.