Chiropractic Helps Women Avoid C-Section

From the April 1, 2007 issue of the Monterey Herald in California comes an article with a story of a woman who was having trouble with her pregnancy. Jennifer Hernandez was 36 years of age, and 32 weeks pregnant when her obstetrician told her she was facing a Caesarean delivery because the baby in her womb was in a high-risk position.

Hernandez's obstetrician performed an ultrasound which showed that her baby was 180 degrees from the normal head-down position for birth. With this news and wanting to avoid a possible C-section, she then sought the services of Dr. Anne Lundquist, a prenatal chiropractor certified since 2001 in the Webster In-Utero Constraint Technique.

Hernandez reported her reaction after starting chiropractic care, "I felt a great relief after the first adjustment." The article then noted that after two sessions with Dr. Lundquist, a new ultrasound showed the baby was in the proper head-down position. "Immediately after the first treatment I felt he moved," Hernandez said.

Dr. Jeanne Ohm, a chiropractor and executive coordinator of the Philadelphia-based International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, the organization that certifies chiropractors in the technique, described the technique by saying, "It reduces interference to the nervous system, balances out pelvic muscles and ligaments, which in turn removes torsion to the uterus. It allows the baby to get into the best possible position for birth."

Dr. Ohm, who has 25 years of chiropractic experience and 10 at teaching the "Webster" technique noted that the technique doesn't involve any risk. However, the article did note that the success rate drops if the patients have passed the 34-week mark of their pregnancies.