Helpful Mind Body Medicine Practices for Pregnancy
I am so grateful to announce that we will be welcoming our third child very soon. As someone who has overcome many chronic illnesses and as someone who was told I would never be able to have children because of said chronic health conditions, I am forever grateful to be where I am today with another healthy pregnancy.
Please remember to work with your specific healthcare practitioners for targeted support. Here at Well Mind Body we honor bio-individuality and know that each person may need different things to help them through their pregnancy journey.
Non-pharmaceutical practices I have found to be helpful during pregnancy:
We know that a healthy mom is vital for a healthy pregnancy. Some of the ways I have supported my overall health and wellness during this pregnancy have included:
Clinical Hypnosis & Hypnobirthing
I have used hypnosis personally and clinically for many years now to help with chronic health, pain and pregnancy symptoms. Personally, I have found it to be very helpful in reducing nausea and pain, increasing relaxation as well as aid in labor, delivery and postpartum recovery. I have also used Hypnobirthing for all three of my pregnancies and my first two labor and deliveries. I am very excited to have another Hypnosis-Assisted Birth.
To learn more about Hypnosis-Assisted Birth, you can read:
https://hypnobirthing.com/marie-mongan-method/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4583759/
Due to my own positive experiences with clinical hypnosis, I became an advanced clinical hypnosis provider, and I am actively involved with The American Society for Clinical Hypnosis and The Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. Clinical hypnosis has been a research interest of mine for many years now. I also offer clinical hypnosis to my clients.
Regular Chiropractic Care with a Webster Certified Chiropractor.
I have used chiropractic care since I was fifteen years old due to a sports injury. I have found it to be especially beneficial during pregnancy and postpartum for myself and my babies. Chiropractic care has helped me regulate my nervous system, help support my spine and hips and has helped me recover from labor and delivery.
Fun Fact: All of my babies have seen a chiropractor within the first few days of life! I get so many strange looks when I share that with people but chiropractic care for babies looks very different than it does for adults and I have found it to be very helpful for both myself and my babies.
We had the honor of working with Dr. Aurelie Petitclerc after our first daughter was born. Sadly she moved out of the country before my second daughter was born. You can watch this video to learn more about pediatric chiropractic care.
More on Chiropractic Care During Pregnancy:
Did you know that Chiropractors are the second largest primary care providers in the United States and are the most frequently used healing treatment modality, second to traditional westernized medical care in the United States (Freeman, 2008)?
Chiropractic care involves manipulating and adjusting joints that are misaligned, which in turn reduces the stress on the spinal nerves, which then promotes health and healing throughout the body. Some of the benefits of chiropractic care during pregnancy include reduced back pain (Borggren, 2007), improve headaches (Alcantara & Cossette, 2009), improve symptom of heartburn (Peterson, 2012) and more.
The Webster Technique has also been shown to help relieve the musculoskeletal causes of intrauterine constraint and aid in breech presentation (Pistolese, 2002).
Acupuncture
I have found acupuncture to be helpful in my journey trying to conceive all the way through postpartum with all three of my pregnancies. I have found it to be helpful in regulating my hormones, reducing nausea, and promoting overall relaxation and sleep. It has also allowed me the space to take time for myself, which is something I must do in order to recharge and reregulate.
More on Acupuncture Care During Pregnancy:
Acupuncture can be a great non-pharmacological treatment for many pregnancy related conditions (Park et al. 2014). Acupuncture has been shown to significantly reduce lumbar and pelvic pain, improve quality of life and reduce functional disability in pregnant women (Vas et al., 2019). Additionally, acupuncture has been shown to reduce mild to moderate emotional complaints in pregnancy (Guerreiro da Silva & Bosco, 2007).
While these are just a few of the mind body practices I have used during pregnancy, I have found them to be very useful in helping me achieve the pregnancy I was hoping for. All of these practices can be utilized by people who are trying to conceive, pregnant or just trying to achieve optimal wellness.
Thank you for being here!
Dr. E
References:
Freeman, L. (2008). Mosby's complementary and alternative medicine: A research-based approach (3rd ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby Elsevier. Chapter 11. Acupuncture (pp. 310-346).
Park, J., Sohn, Y., White, A. R., & Lee, H. (2014). The safety of acupuncture during pregnancy: a systematic review. Acupuncture in Medicine, 32(3), 257-66. https://tcsedsystem.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/safety-acupuncture-during-pregnancy-systematic/docview/1535599493/se-2
Guerreiro da Silva, Joao Bosco. (2007). Acupuncture for mild to moderate emotional complaints in pregnancy - a prospective, quasi-randomised, controlled study. Acupuncture in Medicine, 25(3), 65-71. https://tcsedsystem.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/acupuncture-mild-moderate-emotional-complaints/docview/217527638/se-2
Alcantara, J., & Cossette, M. (2009). Intractable migraine headaches during pregnancy under chiropractic care. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 15(4), 192–197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2009.03.005
Borggren, C. L. (2007). Pregnancy and chiropractic: A narrative review of the literature. Journal of Chiropractic Medicine, 6(2), 70–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcme.2007.04.004
Peterson, C. (2012). A Case Study of Chiropractic Management of Pregnancy-Related Heartburn With Postulated Fetal Epigenome Implications. EXPLORE, 8(5), 304–308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2012.06.001
Pistolese, R. A. (2002). The Webster Technique: A chiropractic technique with obstetric implications. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 25(6), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1067/mmt.2002.126127
Vas, J., Cintado, M. C., Aranda‐Regules, J. M., Aguilar, I., & Rivas Ruiz, F. (2019). Effect of ear acupuncture on pregnancy‐related pain in the lower back and posterior pelvic girdle: A multicenter randomized clinical trial. Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, 98(10), 1307–1317. https://doi.org/10.1111/aogs.13635
