Chiropractic care and infertility

In the United States up to 11% of women suffer with infertility or some form of difficulty getting pregnant. That’s over 7 million women a year seeking methods to help them have a baby. For women over 35 it is almost 25% that will have difficulty. These difficulties aren\’t just emotionally taxing they can be financially taxing also with some couples spending tens of thousands every month on infertility treatments from drugs that alter hormones, to procedures like in-vitro fertilization. These treatments don’t come without risks either. Depression, ectopic pregnancy, which is when the egg is fertilized before it is in the proper place and requires surgery, multiple births, infections, and complications from the anesthesia are a few of the potential risks a woman faces. And she isn\’t the only one at risk. Children born after using some types of infertility treatments may be at an increased risk for a rare genetic disorder that predisposes them to cancer, increased risk of cerebral palsy, and other developmental and psychological disorders.

So what’s a girl to do if she wants a natural way, without side effects to her or her future child, to help her try to conceive? What about Chiropractic care? I know what you’re thinking; Chiropractic care!? I thought that was just for back pain. Not at all, and I’ll show you why.

This study follows a 31 year old woman who had been trying to get pregnant for 3 years. Following the birth of her first child she developed severe pain and bleeding during her menstrual cycles which frequently lasted 2 weeks. When she showed up at the Chiropractors office it was for upper back and neck pain with tension and migraine headaches. As is the case with most people, she sought out Chiropractic care for neck or back pain; she didn’t realize Chiropractic care may be able to help her with a lot more.

The Chiropractic exam focused on evaluating the structure and function of her spine, and found subluxations in her neck, mid and lower back. Subluxations are joints of the spine that are misaligned and not moving properly which interferes with the normal flow of the nervous system and can affect multiple systems in our bodies.

After her first Chiropractic adjustment of the subluxated areas of her spine, her period, which was on day 6, ended and she had a normal 4-5 day cycle the following month. This had not happened in over three years! After her third adjustment by the Chiropractor she reported that her headaches and neck pain and tension had also resolved. 26 days and 8 more adjustments after that she was happy to let the Chiropractor know she was pregnant. At the time this study was published she was still undergoing regular care to keep her body functioning properly and was 6 months pregnant.

So how could Chiropractic adjustments of the spine affect a woman’s ability to get pregnant? Well remember every function of our body is under control of our nervous system, even the regulation of hormones. Subluxations affect nerve flow; either decreasing it or making parts of our nervous system overly active. When talking about hormone regulation and getting pregnant we’re concerned with what is called the autonomic portion of our nervous system. This is the part of our nervous system which functions without our conscious control and is divided into two general functions.

One is the so called fight or flight portion of our nervous system which gets us ready in an emergency. Want to test it? Have someone jump out and scare you. When your heart rate shoots up and your muscles tense getting ready for action you’re under the influence of the fight or flight system. This system exists due to the fact that we were not always the top predator. If you need to run from a lion you want all of your body’s resources directed at getting you to safety. You are not thinking about reproducing and your body is not directing any energy to those systems. The other system is the opposite of the fight or flight and is operational when we are relaxed and not under immediate threat.

In the case of the woman in this study her body may have been under a constant elevated level of the fight or flight system due to stress and subluxations in her spine. Now it is not as high as if she were under actual threat with her heart racing and muscles trembling but it is high enough to direct hormone response away from the functions of her body that it would do while relaxing, like reproducing.  The Chiropractic adjustment restores normal motion to spinal joints thereby allowing normal nervous system flow and reduction of that constant fight or flight state. The restored nervous system flow allows the body to naturally adjust the delicate hormonal balance  allowing her to conceive.

So you can see Chiropractic care is about much more than back pain. It is about allowing your body to function at its optimum like it is designed to do.

It’s as simple as that!

By Dr Scott Szela

ref:J Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health Oct 31, 2013