Latest / Motherhood: Aligned and Assigned / Prenatal Chiropractic Is More Than Back Pain | EP. 72

Transcript

Prenatal Chiropractic Is More Than Back Pain | EP. 72 · Motherhood: Aligned and Assigned

• 0:00
  most moms who struggle in pregnancy were struggling before they got pregnant.
• 0:05
  We all are
• 0:09
  And then like, as you're growing a baby, your body is asked to
• 0:12
  the extreme to be adaptable.
• 0:15
  And if you already were barely scraping by with adaptability before
• 0:19
  you're pregnant, then pregnancy just, like, throws you on your face
• 0:24
  Welcome to Motherhood Aligned and Assigned, where we help guide
• 0:27
  mothers from symptoms to solutions.
• 0:30
  We are Dr. Serena Kaufman and Dr. Veronica Schultz
• 0:33
  nervous system specialist, helping families discover the missing
• 0:36
  link in their wellness journey
• 0:37
  Join us as we translate complex health challenges into simple, actionable
• 0:41
  solutions for you and your children.
• 0:44
  your family deserves to thrive.
• 0:46
  Not just survive.
• 0:48
  All
• 0:48
  right, today we're gonna chat about a question I was asked at a wedding this
• 0:52
  weekend is, what are the benefits of a mother who's perfectly comfortable in her
• 0:59
  pregnancy as far as seeing a chiropractor?
• 1:01
  Like, what's the point?
• 1:03
  I was like, "What's the point?" I had forgotten that people would literally
• 1:06
  like come because they're uncomfortable, because so many women start care
• 1:09
  before
• 1:10
  they're pregnant, and then they get pregnant under my care.
• 1:12
  So they don't experience a ton of physical discomfort, so like
• 1:16
  that's not even like top of mind.
• 1:18
  I was like, "Oh, you just asked my favorite question.
• 1:20
  How long do you have?
• 1:22
  Get your drink first and come back." No, I was like, "Okay, I'm gonna
• 1:26
  make this fast." so it was the husband that was actually asking.
• 1:28
  for
• 1:29
  me, the first thing I think of is, nervous system regulation for
• 1:35
  one,
• 1:35
  mom, 'cause a lot of the symptoms we see of, like distress in pregnancy,
• 1:42
  like insomnia, severe nausea, those kinds of things that take medication
• 1:47
  to just exist for 12 weeks, is they're usually in fight or flight.
• 1:53
  Like they cannot access their rest and digest part of their nervous system, and
• 1:58
  so getting the stress off their nervous system significantly improves rest digest.
• 2:04
  They, then they can sleep, eat, and poop, right?
• 2:06
  Like literally basic, like that's what we want babies to do.
• 2:10
  and then we're considering co-regulation.
• 2:14
  So if mom is in fight or flight in her pregnancy, what… The baby is
• 2:20
  co-regulating with mom in utero.
• 2:22
  They're literally connected.
• 2:25
  And
• 2:25
  so
• 2:26
  Veronica,
• 2:27
  I'd like you to talk more about birth outcomes.
• 2:29
  Great.
• 2:29
  'Cause how is that gonna impact birth if you can't tap into rest, digest, brake
• 2:33
  pedal, parasympathetic nervous system?
• 2:36
  And then how does that impact baby
• 2:38
  Mm-hmm.
• 2:39
  out in, on earth side?
• 2:41
  And
• 2:42
  I'm a strong, advocate also for, like, postpartum anxiety and depression.
• 2:46
  I really think it
• 2:46
  For real.
• 2:48
  Yeah
• 2:48
  because birth itself is such a… I feel like before I used to say it's a very
• 2:54
  parasympathetic dominant, experience, and it is, but it's, it's, it's,
• 2:58
  It's, yeah, just be adaptable.
• 3:00
  Yeah,
• 3:00
  very much both back and forth very rapidly, honestly, right?
• 3:04
  Like, you kind of experience the full capacity of your nervous system, and
• 3:08
  so you have to have this sympathetic nature of activation and preparation
• 3:14
  and expansion, but then you also have to have this very parasympathetic
• 3:17
  release almost simultaneously, right?
• 3:19
  Of, relaxing and opening and, I think about, like, participating
• 3:25
  in the wave of a body, right?
• 3:26
  It's like the body's creating the wave, but then you also
• 3:29
  have to crash into the wave.
• 3:30
  and so when it comes to chiropractic care throughout your pregnancy, you just
• 3:34
  create so much more capacity to go from the stressful act of muscle engagement
• 3:40
  and, contraction to this, like, relaxation and opening, and breathing, right,
• 3:46
  through the pelvic floor and the pelvic, I should say pelvic bowl and all that.
• 3:49
  So when you are pre- like, you know, coming in to care during your pregnancy,
• 3:54
  I think about it as, I know people who, who are watching the podcast can't see
• 3:57
  me, but I'm like this gauge, right?
• 4:00
  This like, I guess you could say cup, if you will, right?
• 4:02
  If your cup is already full and you only have an inch of water or room
• 4:07
  at the top, that's what you have to work with to go from sympathetic
• 4:11
  to parasympathetic and back again.
• 4:13
  But if you're slowly emptying out that cup and creating more space in that cup,
• 4:16
  then you have so much more room to go from this sympathetic act of the contraction
• 4:20
  to this parasympathetic relaxation and recovery to do it all over again.
• 4:24
  you know, we say things like it helps with birth outcomes, but that's what we mean.
• 4:27
  It means that mom has a greater connection to her body and a greater
• 4:32
  connection, or I should say a greater ability to utilize the sympathetic
• 4:36
  and parasympathetic things that she needs to do to have baby earth side.
• 4:41
  Yeah.
• 4:41
  That, that's very true.
• 4:43
  postpartum, right?
• 4:45
  Because now you have a baby, you
• 4:47
  I have a comment on
• 4:48
  yeah.
• 4:48
  'Cause most moms who struggle in pregnancy were struggling before they got pregnant.
• 4:56
  We all are
• 5:00
  And then like, as you're growing a baby, your body is asked to
• 5:03
  the extreme to be adaptable.
• 5:06
  And if you already were barely scraping by with adaptability before you're
• 5:10
  pregnant, then pregnancy just, like, throws you on your face in adaptability.
• 5:15
  have morning sickness that's like… I mean, I feel like just talking
• 5:19
  to Dr. and I'm like, "I'm not sure how you can be comfortable during
• 5:22
  pregnancy." I'm 13 weeks pregnant, so it's still the trenches.
• 5:25
  but I'm, I'm realizing there is a scale of discomfort where, like, some women
• 5:30
  really just can't even function through those first 12 weeks, where it's like,
• 5:35
  you know, you might just be uncomfortable.
• 5:37
  That's kind of more where I sit of like, I'm uncomfortable, I don't like it.
• 5:41
  I feel a bit yucky, but at least I'm functioning, right?
• 5:45
  And I feel
• 5:45
  still running a practice.
• 5:46
  you can have two other… Yeah, there's so many things that there's,
• 5:49
  there's a lot of life stuff happening.
• 5:51
  But yeah, it's like we have to keep in mind the, the scale of it and just how
• 5:57
  much chiropractic care can keep you on the lower end of it instead of at
• 6:00
  this point of like, "I can't, I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't function."
• 6:05
  And especially if you have other kids that you're trying to take care of, right?
• 6:07
  That can be such a hard, hard season.
• 6:10
  Yeah.
• 6:11
  I feel like my last pregnancy, one, I got to rest a lot 'cause it was after, right
• 6:17
  after graduation that I got pregnant.
• 6:20
  It was wonderful.
• 6:21
  and then I just, like, got to start my practice on my own terms, right?
• 6:25
  So, like, I started my practice when I was three months pregnant, so I got to,
• 6:29
  like, sleep a lot in that first 12 weeks.
• 6:32
  And I would, like, lay on the ground or the couch with toys out
• 6:36
  for Hadley, and just kind of, like,
• 6:39
  create a
• 6:40
  a safe space for her to exist while, while I was, like, in and out of the world.
• 6:45
  so I did good through… I had chiropractic care through pregnancy.
• 6:47
  I did pretty well through birth.
• 6:49
  But Duke's birth was so fast that it shocked my nervous system.
• 6:55
  Like, he came out, I felt my body just, like, woof, slam into sympathetic.
• 7:00
  And, like,
• 7:01
  it
• 7:01
  was a wild experience.
• 7:03
  It was like an out-of-body sympathetic shift.
• 7:06
  And I immediately
• 7:07
  got
• 7:08
  ahold of Dr. Dillon, and I was like, "Help.
• 7:10
  I don't know.
• 7:11
  I, I'm in fight or flight,
• 7:14
  and
• 7:15
  I don't know what to do about it."
• 7:17
  And
• 7:17
  so to have care postpartum too was amazing for me.
• 7:21
  I mean, I-- Care through IC very steady.
• 7:24
  I wasn't nauseous really at all.
• 7:26
  that's my tendency too.
• 7:27
  I wasn't super nauseous with Hadley.
• 7:29
  As long as I kept my blood sugar stable, which I just had to eat
• 7:32
  a ton of food, and I was fine.
• 7:34
  so Mom, if you're nauseous and you're not eating a lot, get your blood sugar up
• 7:39
  But, but how do you eat when you don't wanna eat?
• 7:44
  I don't know.
• 7:45
  Like
• 7:45
  Like, uh, just gotta, like, find something high in protein that you can
• 7:48
  get down and then chase it with some carbs to keep your energy up, 'cause
• 7:52
  that baby's burning carbs like crazy.
• 7:55
  Yeah, yeah.
• 7:57
  Anyways,
• 7:58
  But think about,
• 7:59
  yeah
• 8:00
  even for someone who is getting chiropractic care and, like, doing
• 8:04
  all the quote unquote "right things," you still have that sympathetic
• 8:07
  dominant shift that took you some time.
• 8:09
  Remember we've talked about a couple times on this podcast, took
• 8:11
  you some time to come back from.
• 8:13
  But just think about how much longer and how much more, you know,
• 8:16
  Oh my gosh.
• 8:17
  get through that, right?
• 8:18
  It's like I, I think that so many people come from this world of like,
• 8:24
  and this is, like, our medical sy- like, the whole system as a whole, right?
• 8:26
  It's like, "Something's wrong, I should go get it taken care of."
• 8:28
  And it's like with chiropractic care, it's really about building,
• 8:31
  like we talked about the cup thing, building space in your cup to prepare
• 8:35
  for what is unexpected, right?
• 8:37
  And so, you know, I have patients that are on wellness, and it's like you still go
• 8:42
  through things and navigate things, but they go so much quicker and so much, more
• 8:47
  efficiently to get you back to baseline than if you were to start, you know, going
• 8:53
  through life with this, like, untamed nervous system, you know, leading the way
• 8:59
  Yeah, 'cause then your cup is just filling and filling and filling, and like what--
• 9:05
  do you have any resources to remove, like to increase that cup's capacity?
• 9:09
  Mm-hmm.
• 9:11
  'Cause also something I like, I like this depiction too of
• 9:13
  like, yes, we're going to,
• 9:16
  like
• 9:17
  I feel like a care plan, like it scoops water out of your cup,
• 9:20
  and then wellness, like we're building walls of your cup higher,
• 9:24
  You get a bigger cup.
• 9:26
  of your cup.
• 9:28
  One of those chuggers.
• 9:28
  Mm.
• 9:31
  So, and it, and like think about how important that, I know that we like
• 9:34
  veered off, but like back to pregnancy, like that is all motherhood is, is like
• 9:40
  real.
• 9:41
  continually needing a bigger cup to go through the different changes
• 9:45
  and seasons of conception to having
• 9:49
  'Cause now I'm not only, I'm not only co-regulating one child inside
• 9:53
  of me, I'm co-regulating two people with free will outside of my body.
• 9:59
  That's takes, in my opinion so far, much more adaptability on my part.
• 10:05
  Can confirm.
• 10:08
  Can
• 10:08
  confirm.
• 10:09
  We have a two-year-old, a four-year-old, and one on the way, and I'm like,
• 10:11
  "Wow, I'm so glad I get adjusted every week, three times a week still."
• 10:16
  For real.
• 10:17
  the most of my wellness patients, I've actually found that they're like, they
• 10:21
  come in for the attitude adjustments.
• 10:23
  They're like, "I'm in a bad mood. See if you can fix it."
• 10:26
  The whole fam.
• 10:26
  I love it when a mom comes in and they're like, "She's in a bad mood."
• 10:30
  And I'm like, "Okay, we'll start with her, and then you're next." You know?
• 10:35
  Everyone gets attitude adjustments.
• 10:38
  Yeah.
• 10:38
  I have one mom that comes in, she's like, every time she's like, "Wow."
• 10:42
  He's a
• 10:42
  a teenager, on the spectrum.
• 10:45
  She's like, "He's happy now. Oh, so nice. We'll have a nice car ride home." Yeah.
• 10:51
  but yeah, so it's more like pregnancy… getting adjusted
• 10:53
  when you're pregnant is more than like, "Oh, I feel physically fine.
• 10:57
  I don't need to see a chiropractor." Like, we're, we're beyond that.
• 11:00
  And I think something I think I have beef with, I'm, uh, curious to your opinion,
• 11:06
  is, I've been asked to be a speaker for a doula event, and then a speaker at a
• 11:11
  mom's summit for raising healthy kids, and they've categorized chiropractic, me,
• 11:17
  I'm the chiropractor, uh, in body work.
• 11:21
  Mm-hmm.
• 11:21
  Like, uh, like
• 11:22
  maybe I'm being nitpicky, but it's like craniosacral therapy, massage
• 11:26
  therapy, et cetera, body work.
• 11:29
  Where I think chiropractors are getting stuck in, like, l- be-
• 11:33
  living in this realm of com- feeling comfortable and pain-free is body work.
• 11:40
  Those chiropractors are body work.
• 11:42
  We are nervous system work, right?
• 11:44
  So i- it's… I don't know, like, it… feel… body work feels watered
• 11:50
  down, and I feel like going to the chiropractor for pain when you're
• 11:55
  pregnant is a watered down version of the possibilities in your care and how you
• 12:01
  could feel and how adaptable you could be
• 12:04
  I mean, I don't know that I would say like usually I have beef with
• 12:07
  it 'cause it's like I get it.
• 12:09
  I mean, to me it's like I have had several experiences with lots of
• 12:12
  peers that I would say they are bodywork you know what I mean?
• 12:16
  Like, I would say that for a majority of the chiropractic out there,
• 12:19
  like I get why people see that.
• 12:21
  But we, uh, we and exactly what we do as nervous system focused
• 12:25
  chiropractors and, you know, whoever's listening to this and wondering the
• 12:27
  difference between the two, like,
• 12:29
  Mm-hmm
• 12:30
  yes, we, we are able to use the somatics of the body to make change
• 12:37
  in the nervous system, but it's the intention and it's the, objective
• 12:41
  measurements that we take that kinda takes us out of that realm, right?
• 12:45
  And so I feel like I, I, I get the thought process of like us being
• 12:50
  body work, but then it's our job then once we're in the room to
• 12:53
  take them, "Oh, hey, you know this.
• 12:55
  That's cool.
• 12:55
  That is technically something we can do, but here's so much more
• 12:59
  Here's the next level.
• 13:00
  Yeah.
• 13:01
  Mm-hmm.
• 13:01
  Yeah, I'm excited.
• 13:02
  I, like can we, to make it more appealing to the audience, suggest that this is
• 13:08
  more than another talk on body work,
• 13:12
  and,
• 13:12
  like give a little hint to the nervous system, like wink.
• 13:16
  and then I think I w- I'm excited to make that part of the conversation.
• 13:19
  I think it just creates a lot more, like, opportunity and excitement to…
• 13:23
  Mm-hmm.
• 13:24
  It's almost like a, "But wait, there's more," right?
• 13:26
  Like, there's so much more.
• 13:27
  And I, I don't know, to me it, it's,
• 13:30
  it's an opportunity, you know?
• 13:32
  because people just don't know what they don't know,
• 13:35
  Yeah.
• 13:35
  No, having beef is a strong word.
• 13:37
  Uh, it's just like a, ugh, it's like, ah, there's more.
• 13:41
  Yeah, there's so much more to it, and I think that's, that's the whole, that's
• 13:44
  the whole… I know this k- again, feels like we're veering off, but that's the
• 13:47
  whole point of this episode, right?
• 13:49
  Is to be like, as far as most people know, even when I was working with the,
• 13:53
  the ad strategist that we, we both use, when I talked about targeting and working
• 13:59
  more with the prenatal population, that's all she really had to go off of.
• 14:02
  She was like, "What even is there besides, like, back pain, sciatica, you know,
• 14:07
  um, hip pain?" Like, that's all she… She was like, "I don't even know what's,
• 14:10
  what to include." and when I mentioned things like, you know, morning sickness,
• 14:15
  postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, she was like, "Wow, I didn't even know."
• 14:18
  You know what I mean?
• 14:19
  So it's cool 'cause you will feel better physically, comfort wise, 'cause, you
• 14:23
  know, that's part of the three T's, right?
• 14:24
  That physical trauma.
• 14:26
  but there's, yeah, like I said, there's so much more, and I, I, I personally
• 14:29
  love the most the mental health aspect of it, and just the, the ability for
• 14:35
  mental clarity, and to not stay stuck in your emotions, and to be able to fully
• 14:40
  have your emotions, um, throughout the process of pregnancy is, I will say, I'm,
• 14:46
  I'm
• 14:47
  under c- nerve system care, and I, I would say this is my most emotional pregnancy.
• 14:51
  and it could be, you know, every pregnancy is different,
• 14:53
  I feel like there's a lot of things too.
• 14:55
  There's a lot, but there's a little,
• 14:56
  yeah, but I've had three, three very interesting pregnancies, and
• 15:00
  I h- I can say strongly that I haven't shut down for this one.
• 15:04
  Like, here, like, I had a very easy, like, not easy, but, like,
• 15:07
  restful… I haven't had that yet.
• 15:09
  And I don't see it in the future with this one either.
• 15:12
  But I can say, like, I'm not, I'm aware of where I'm at and how I'm feeling, and
• 15:19
  I think that is going to be huge for my postpartum recovery this time around.
• 15:22
  Good for you.
• 15:24
  Good for you.
• 15:25
  Yeah.
• 15:26
  How exciting for you.
• 15:27
  Me too.
• 15:28
  All
• 15:28
  All right, If you are interested in learning more and you're like, "Hmm,
• 15:33
  how's my nervous system doing?" I've created a nervous system check-in, a
• 15:38
  little PDF that you should be able to access with a link in the show notes.
• 15:43
  Let, uh, email me directly if that doesn't work 'cause I'm
• 15:46
  trying to figure that out anyways.
• 15:48
  I'll s- personally
• 15:50
  it's around.
• 15:50
  Just, just, yeah, dig for it if you would like it.
• 15:52
  It's really
• 15:53
  exists, and I'll get it
• 15:54
  10 out of 10 would recommend.
• 15:55
  Check it out.
• 15:56
  yeah, yeah.
• 15:57
  But it's a little check-in to see, like, what are the signs that my nervous system
• 16:00
  is stuck in fight or flight or exhausted, and then some ways that you can help
• 16:05
  yourself at home, and then we'll chat more about chiropractic too, obviously.
• 16:09
  So yeah.
• 16:10
  All right, I'm gonna pray us out.
• 16:13
  Dear
• 16:13
  Lord, thank you for the opportunity and the gift you have given us to create life.
• 16:20
  How… What… Like, we have the coolest job, women, in,
• 16:24
  creating more of your love.
• 16:26
  Uh, so thank you for that.
• 16:27
  Lord, please help women find resources like nervous system chiropractic
• 16:33
  care when they know, or even if they don't know, that their nervous system
• 16:38
  needs support and their capacity cup needs emptied and built up.
• 16:42
  Lord, help these women find those resources so they can, they can create
• 16:46
  life with more ease, and they can bring life into this world with more ease.
• 16:51
  In your name I pray, amen
• 16:52
  Amen
• 16:53
  Thank you for joining us on Motherhood Aligned and Assigned.
• 16:56
  We hope today's episode helped you connect the dots in your family's health journey.
• 17:00
  Remember, this is where nervous system health meets motherhood wisdom.
• 17:04
  Until next time, we're Dr. Veronica Shilts.
• 17:07
  Serena Kaman supporting you as you nurture your family's wellbeing?
• 17:11
  Because when you're aligned, everyone thrives.
• 17:13
  Everyone,
• 17:15
  Everyone.