Back Pain during Pregnancy

Does Chiropractic Help Back Pain Associated with Pregnancy?

If you are pregnant and suffering from low back pain, a neighbor or a friend has probably suggested you visit a chiropractor because a chiropractor was able to help them during their pregnancy.

The discussion probably left you curious, is that good advice or just a single success story?

Additionally, you may be wondering whether chiropractic is safe during pregnancy and how much low back pain improvement the average pregnant woman can expect to get.

After looking at several scientific publications on these exact topics, the appropriate conclusion seems to be that “chiropractic evaluation and treatment during pregnancy may be considered a safe and effective means of treating common musculoskeletal symptoms that affect pregnant patients. The scarcity of published literature warrants further research.” (Borggren, 2007)

So basically the answers are:

• Yes, chiropractic is safe during pregnancy.
• Yes, chiropractic helps common musculoskelatal probelms during pregnancy  (including back pain).
• Your friends experience isn’t just one woman’s story. Many women are finding relief and the results are being sporadically published in medical journals too.
• More research under more controlled conditions is needed for the purposes of educating primary care physicians and obstetricians about chiropractic care during pregnancy.

Here are a few additional details about the prevalence of low back pain during pregnancy and the number of women being referred for treatment.

• 57 – 69% of women complain of low back pain during pregnancy
• Only about 32% of women report these symptoms to their primary doctor
• Only about 25% of primary doctors recommend seeking treatment for the pain.

Clearly this is a big problem with 2 in 3 having pregnancy-related back pain. Also a big problem is that they are generally not talking to their obstetricians and primary care physicians about it and that these professionals are not referring them to effective treatment options.

Chiropractic treatments can be quite effective for pregnancy-related back pain with just a few visits for the majority of women seeking help. In a small study of 17 women:

• Sixteen of 17 (94%) saw clinically important improvements in low back pain with chiropractic care.
• The average pain rating went down from 5.9 to 1.5 (on a scale of 0 to 10).
• It took an average of 1.8 visits and 4.5 days to get clinically important pain relief.

We hope this article gave you hope that many pregnant women do get significant, rapid relief from low back pain.

If you are currently pregnant with low back pain, you probably have many questions not answered by this article. Perhaps you’ve never had chiropractic care before or you want to know how we adjust our techniques to work with pregnant patients.

The best way to get answers to your questions is with an initial consultation. The only way for us to know whether you are a good candidate is for you to come see us, so call Dr. Wintermute at (949) 559-7999 for an initial appointment today.

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Bibliography
 
Borggren, C. L. (2007, Spring). Pregnancy and chiropractic: a narrative review of the literature. J Chiropr Med, 6(2), 70-74.

Khorsan, R., Hawk, C., Lisi, A., & Kizhakkeveettil, A. (2009, Jun). Manipulative therapy for pregnancy and related conditions: a systematic review. Obstet Gynecol Surv, 64(6), 416-27.

Lisi, A. (2006, Jan-Feb). Chiropractic spinal manipulation for low back pain of pregnancy: a retrospective case series. J Midwifery Womens Health, 51(1), 7-10.

Stuber, K., & Smith, D. (2008, ul-Aug). Chiropractic treatment of pregnancy-related low back pain: a systematic review of the evidence. J Manipulative Physiol Ther., 31(6), 447-54.

What Exactly Are the B Complex Vitamins?

The B group of vitamins is probably the most commonly misunderstood of the vitamins, simply because the B vitamins are several distinct vitamins lumped together.

Additionally, the fact that the vitamins in this group are known by both letter, number and name is confusing to many people. Here is a quick list of the B vitamins found in the Vitamin B complex group.

• B1 is also thiamin
• B2 is also riboflavin
• B3 is also niacin
• B5 is also pantothenic acid
• B6 is also pyridoxine
• B7 is also biotin
• B9 is also folic acid
• B12 is also cobalamin

You should note that there are four additional substances in the B complex group, though they are not known as vitamins. They are choline, lipoic acid, PABA and inositol. When you purchase B complex vitamins, these four will not be included.

Furthermore, one or two of the recognized B vitamins may also be omitted. B5 and B7 are so widely available in food that most people get plenty of these vitamins even if they aren’t eating a healthy diet.

There are gaps in the numbers of the B vitamins because our understanding of them has evolved over time. Initially there was only a single B vitamin.

Later it was recognized that what had been referred to as a single vitamin, actually had many components. These component parts where numbered 1,2,3,4, etc… Even later it was determine that some of these components (such as B4) did not meet the criteria of being a vitamin and they were dropped. That’s how we ended up with 8 B-vitamins with non-sequential numbers.

One thing that all the B vitamins share is that they are water soluble. Any excess vitamin B is not stored, but rather is excreted in the urine. That means that all the B vitamins need to be constantly replenished from our diets.

B vitamins are found in whole unprocessed foods including grains, meats and vegetables. In general, the more processed that food is, the lower the content of all the B vitamins.

A daily multi-vitamin is a great way to ensure that you are getting all the B complex Vitamins your body needs on a daily basis.

One of the most commonly recognized uses of the B vitamins is an energy booster. Many popular energy drinks that claim a natural boost of energy without sugar or caffeine are high in B vitamin complex.

There are too many components in the Vitamin B complex to discuss the health benefits, deficiencies and Recommended Daily Allowance for the whole group in a single article. Look for future articles about each of these important nutrients.

If you have questions about your current nutrition and supplement plan, just ask Dr. Wintermute. She is here to help!

Bibliography
B Vitamins MedlinePlus. (n.d.). Retrieved 8 10, 2011, from National Institutes of Health: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/bvitamins.html

Micronutrient Information Center. (n.d.). Retrieved 8 11, 2011, from Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University: http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins.html