December 2022

It’s a big part of my practice to focus on the energy side of things and during pregnancy women feel a lot of emotions and waves of feelings. As chiropractic deals with structural bio mechanical issues, I have found that emotions, among other things, can be a great cause of stress, and therefore tightness in the muscles causing aches and pains elsewhere.

Feelings of inadequacy or overwhelmed often times gets stored in the shoulders and neck and can be the cause of neck/shoulder tightness and even headaches. Letting go of those feelings through the Emotion Code or by some other means, can greatly improve the softness of your muscles and make the pregnant mother feel better.

The emotion of overwhelmed is also one that is produced by the sexual organs and glands (including the uterus) according to Chinese Medicine. If mom is feeling this emotion, then there is a high probability that growing baby is feeling it as well since it’s inside the original organ producing it. Pregnant moms get take steps to calm the mind, and recognize that the universe isn’t ever going to throw something at you that you wont be able to handle.

Yours in Health,

Dr. Josef Patterson…

Calcium is only absorbed in the blood stream from an ionized form of calcium. This ionized form is calcium bicarbonate. The different calcium’s on the market are most commonly in the form of calcium carbonate. Carbonate is much different in the body than bicarbonate and is pretty much limestone. Limestone takes about 12 steps in the body for it to turn into the absorbable, ionized form of calcium bicarbonate to be utilized. You cannot absorb calcium carbonate in the body to go to the bones and tissues unless it goes through all the steps. If the body gets too much calcium carbonate, sometimes it doesn’t know what to do with it. This is partly why people may be prone to getting calcium deposits in the skin, muscles, or organs. To avoid calcium deposits, it is important to take a calcium supplement with food since calcium is inherently alkaline, and to not take more than 500mg of calcium at a time.¹

A better form a calcium to take, which takes only one step to turn into bicarbonate is calcium lactate. It is absorbed very quickly and can greatly benefit the muscles and tissues of the body promptly. Standard Process’s Calcium Lactate has 5 parts calcium lactate and one part magnesium. This gives the product a pH of 5.2 (on the acidic side) which makes it a lot more assimilated in the gut.

Anyone who is pregnant needs to supplement with calcium to support proper growth of the baby, as well as to maintain healthy and strong bones and teeth for the mother! I give Standard Process’s Calcium Lactate to all my pregnant patients and they have found great benefit in taking it!

References:

1. https://muschealth.org/medical-services/geriatrics-and-aging/healthy-aging/calcium

Yours in Health,

Dr. Josef Patterson…

Often times a pregnant mother, especially in the first trimester, gets sick and receives an aversion towards food. What also happens is the mothers body will put the growing baby first in priority over the mother. So if mom is not eating very much during pregnancy, then any calorie or nutrient that is taken is being sent to baby and mom doesn’t get it! 

Calcium for instance, if not eaten or taken regularly during pregnancy will cause a bunch of issues with mom. Baby will get calcium to grow his or her bones one way or another, and if they don’t get it through moms diet, then they will get it from moms bones themselves. Yes, bone density can decrease in women who lack sufficient vitamins and minerals in their diet. Calcium especially is needed for muscle contraction and even more so for muscle relaxation! Yes, it takes more minerals and energy to relax a muscle than it does to contract it! This is why after people pass-on, they receive what’s called “rigor mortise” as their body stiffens up.

With insufficient calcium in the body, women also receive muscle cramps, which commonly known as “Charlie horses.” There are also so many different types of calcium’s out there. Which one is the best one to take? Are there side effects to any of them? We will explore more about calcium in our next blog post.

Yours in Health,

Dr. Josef Patterson…

We mentioned in our previous post about adjusting the pelvis to help relax the uterus more. There are two main ligaments that support the uterus on either side that chiropractors can address and I would like to discuss them here. These ligaments are the only ligaments in the human body that have muscle surrounding them. Not even Males have muscles that grow and get bigger around a ligament as the ligament gets bigger or stretched.

The first ligament attaching to the uterus is called the uterosacral ligament. This ligament comes from the back of the uterus and inserts into the sacrum. This ligament can be pulled too tight on one side if the sacrum is displaced. Adjusting the sacrum properly can assist this ligament with its associated surrounding muscle to relax and relieve tension on the uterus.

The second ligament we to discuss is the Round ligament. This one is most often felt by pregnant mothers because it’s the one that spasms or brings sharp pains when trying to situate and get comfortable in bed. It is located from the front of the pubic bone and inserts into the side of the uterus. This ligament can also be tight on one side, causing tension to be on the one side of the uterus. Therefore, this can make baby feel uncomfortable and want to move into a less-than-ready position (ie. Head down position).

Chiropractic care through the Webster Technique can and often does help ease the discomfort of women through labor and delivery. Pregnant mothers being so in tune with their bodies also see results quickly too.

Your’s in Health,

Dr. Josef Patterson…

Chiropractors do not claim to “flip” babies that are in the breech position. If they did, then they would be practicing obstetrics and could lose their license. The Doctor of Chiropractic treats the mother and her symptoms, or causes.

If we could think about it for a moment though, why would a baby be breeched in the first place? Some ideas floating around there could be that the mothers pelvic anatomy is in such a way that the baby doesn’t “fit right” in the womb. Others go on to say that the position the mother is continually in can cause the baby to be in a certain position. Another possibility is that because of the uterus being tight in some areas versus other areas, the baby is more squished on one side and may move to a more comfortable position. This is something the Webster Technique addresses.

If there is an imbalance with the pelvis biomechanically which is causing the pelvic bowl to be smaller, then fixing that imbalance can open the pelvis and relax the uterus to be more open. Doing this has caused some babies in the breech position to turn head down. This being said, it is not consistent and each pregnancy. If a mother has a breech baby, she should seek medical advice from her obstetrician or mid-wife to explore options during labor and delivery.

Yours in Health,

Dr. Josef Patterson…