Pregnancy and Chiropractic

CASE STUDY

 

Female Infertility and Subluxation-Based Gonstead Chiropractic Care: A Case Study and Selective Review of the Literature

 

Jon W. Schwanz, D.C. Bio & J. Tyler Schwanz, D.C. Bio

 

Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health - Chiropractic ~ Volume 2012 ~ Issue 4 ~ Pages 85-94

 

Abstract

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Objective:  To describe the results of subluxation-based chiropractic care of a female struggling to conceive, and to provide a current review of the literature on infertility and chiropractic.

 

Clinical Features: A 29-year-old female schoolteacher with an 8-year history of infertility presented to a chiropractic clinic for care.  She revealed during the history that her menstrual cycle typically lasted 40-60 days, on average.

 

Interventions and Outcomes: Vertebral subluxation was found at S4 sacral segment, and specific, high-velocity, low-amplitude thrusts were delivered according to Gonstead protocol.  After 4 weeks of care, she reported being pregnant.

 

Conclusion:  Chiropractic adjustments, resulting in the reduction of vertebral subluxation, appeared to be beneficial for a woman previously deemed infertile.  Research on chiropractic and infertility is limited, and the chiropractic profession is implored to conduct more research in this area.

 

Key words:chiropractic, infertility, subluxation, Gonstead, autonomic nervous system, fertility


http://chiropracticpediatrics.sharepoint.com/Pages/2012_1223_infertility.aspx

Pregnancy and Chiropractic. What??

What causes a subluxation?

Now that you know what a subluxation is, what causes them?

There are many things in life that can cause subluxations.  Our bodies were not made for sitting long hours at a desk in a hunched over position or sitting hours in a car/truck or being stressed for hours and hours on end.  In the chiropractic world we say subluxations are caused by the three T's.  What are those three T's?  They are TRAUMAS, THOUGHTS and TOXINS. So lets break it down.

TRAUMAs: I am sure you can help me with this
*Birth - Birth is very traumatic on an infant and especially more in the modern days.  Babies have to come through a small area in order to make their way into the world.  Yes, every baby should be checked (there will be later posts on this).
*Learning to walk - How many falls to newly walking babies fall?
*Injuries due to sports
*Car accidents
*Slips/falls

THOUGHTs:  

*Stress which can come in many forms; day to day stress of the husseling around, work, family, marital, bills, student loans, debt.

Stress causes us to be in a state of fight or flight/fear.  We have two different systems (within the nervous system) that control our bodies.  I will not go too indepth here.  The two are: Parasympathetic and sympathetic.  Parasmpathetic is called rest and digest or feed and breed.  This is a state where you body is truly relaxed.  For example, when we are in a true parasympathetic state our digestive organs are recieving a great percentage of the blood.  This allows our body to digest the food, to absorb the food properly within our gut and then use the broken down food to create human tissue.  In a sympathetic state (fight or flight) our body has decreased blood flow to certain organs and constricts vessels in different areas.  Our bodies completely change their physiological state.  Muscles tense, blood pressure increases, inablitity to sleep, decreased immunity are just a few things that happen.  All this can cause a subluxation to occur, again putting pressure on the nerve and allowing the nervous system to not function at its optimal potential.

TOXINs:

*Medications
*Food and Drinks
*Pollution
*Mold
*Bad quality of water
*Many more

This all being said I am not telling you to stop taking your medications (because sometimes they are absolutely necessary), stop eating, quit your job and move to a deserted island.  The above are all examples of what can cause a subluxation and honestly to be able to avoid all the above things is pretty tough.  This question arises so many times to chirorpactors: Your not one of those chiropractors that makes me come in for the rest of life or a chiropractor that I have to see once a week, right?

If you truly understand what subluxations are and what causes them, I am confident you know the answer to that question.  If not stay tuned.

Comparisson between chiropractic and medical school

As I prepare for my 8 finals this week, the thought crossed my mind "I wonder if the public truly understands that becoming a chiropractor is not easiest?"  In order to become a chiropractor you go through 3 1/2 years, 14 quarters (straight, no 4 months off for summer).   We take five parts of boards (which are typically right before finals and are 660 questions) and take anywhere from 24-30 credits per quarter.  When you get into upper quarters you are in clinic, which is when you begin to have patients.  This takes more of your time, although this is what your going to school for this is an enjoyment but there are only so many hours in the day.  Along with keeping a healthy lifestyle of exercising, eating well, sleeping and finding time to relax it is a tough 3 1/2 years although very worth it in the end.  Here is a comparison chart of the amount of hours in Medical School and in Chiropractic.

Pretty Interesting I think! :)

Subluxation? What?

As you can read in the post below, our entire body has a master control system that controls 10 trillion cells in our body.  Our brain communicates with those 10 trillion cells through the spinal cord then to the nerves that exit our spinal column then to each cell.  Our brain is protected by our skull and our spinal cord is protected by 24 movable bones (our spinal column).  What other organ system is completely protected by bones?  That's right, NONE!  Do you know why?  Because our brain and spinal cord are the most important system in our bodies!

What can sometimes happen due to many different things in life (which I will post about later), those 24 movable bones in our spinal cord can move in a direction that puts pressure on the nerve that exits the spinal column.  This pressure causes the nerve to not be function at 100%.  We all know that 100% functioning is better than 80% functioning or 70% or 60%, right?  So if a nerve that controls your heart is only function at 80%, is that less functioning than 100%?  Any repairs or functions that they heart must do will only be done at 80%, instead of 100%

When this bone moves out of place and creates an interference (pressure on the nerve) to the body and this is what chiropractors call a SUBLUXATION.  Chiropractors are the only profession to detect and adjust subluxations.  Chiropractors go through extensive schooling to know where the subluxation is located.  Once it is located the chiropractor will put a light force and move the bone, which is called an adjustment.

So recap.  What is a subluxation?  It is an interference that is not allowing your brain to connect with the rest of your body that is located in your spine.  Subluxation interferes with your body to operate at 100%.

How smart our bodies are from they day you were concieved

This is an overview of chiropractic.  Over time I will post more in depth.  I want to lay a little foundation before we start building!

Every human being in this world started off by a sperm and an egg.  They started to divide into many different cells.  These cells soon formed the nervous system, which was the first organ system in the body to be formed and from there the nervous system controlled the formation of the rest of your organ systems, your heart, lungs, digestive system, ovaries/testies (depending on your sex! :) ). No one was in your mom's uterus telling you what to form, how to form or when to do this.  It all happened by your mom's intellegence and your own intellegence through the control of your nervous system.  No one had part in the development of you.

As soon as your born the reliant that your body knows how to function on its own, is over.  You are given vitamin k because they don't think you are able to clot your own blood, they give you vaccines because they think your body is not smart enough to fight off what it needs... there are many things that are added to a newborn due to the mistrust of the newborns own body.  Maybe if we came out talking and saying "hey guys I am perfect in everyway I don't need this stuff injected into me" this would stop these things being added to a newborn.

From birth until death we are bombarded with information and advertisements that are bodies are not smart enough to heal or to function on its own.  For example we are told that if we have a fever, its a terrible thing.  However, a fever has a purpose.  Each one of our bodies gets a fever to elevate our body temperature because there is a foreign invader that our OWN body wants to get rid of!  How neat is that!?  When I get a fever I know for a fact I didn't say "Ut oh I think I have a foreign invader in me, I better raise my body temperature."  No way!  My immune system told my brain, "we have something going on here, tell the other systems to attack and raise my temperature."  Again, the nervous system is in control.

My First Post!

Hello to all.  This is my first post on my blog.  This blog is to teach you and your family the truth about chiropractic and the principles it was founded on.  I will also make posts about your health including nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, etc. Those type of posts will serve as a compliment to chiropractic and from a chiropractic perspective.

Let me give you a little about myself for those of you that do not know me.  I am currently a 11th quarter student in chiropractic school at Life University.  There are 14 quarters... meaning I graduate in  March 2013!  I look forward to serving as many families as possible through out my life.

I was first introduced to chiropractic when I was 9. I started gymnastics when I was 2 1/2 and by age 9 I was at practice 20-25 hours a week.  For years this demand was on my body and I started having all kinds of pains; knee pain, heel pain, wrist pain, low back pain, etc.  One of my teammates was seeing a chiropractor and her mother suggested I go.  After my first adjustment I remember saying to my mom "WOW, this is so crazy, I just feel so relaxed and all aligned this is the best feeling ever!  Can I keep coming!?"  I kept going back and because of chiropractic I was able to continue with gymnastics for many years.  I was taking first place at many different gymnastics competitions because I was operating at my optimal potential!

I got my bachelors degree from Central Michigan University in Exercise Physiology.  I knew deep in my heart I wanted to be a chiropractor since I was 9, so I continued to pursue this.  After being in chiropractic school for a year I found out that chiropractic was bigger than neck pain, back pain, headaches.  Chiropractic is about optimal potential in ones own body!  I am so blessed that becoming a chiropractor is part of the path of life I am on.

I look forward to sharing my passion and mission with each and everyone of you.  Thank you!

Amy