Tag Archives: ligaments

Why Does Pregnancy Hurt?

Hi, I’m Dr. Steven Battaglino with Battaglino Family Chiropractic. Why does pregnancy hurt so much? Pregnancy is commonly associated with lower back pain, mid-back pain. Part of it is due to the weight gain. As much as the weight gain plays a role, so does the shift in the weight. In other words, the center of gravity is shifting and that has a big impact on the spine and the structure of the body.

This is the back of the spine, this is the front, the tummy is here so the tummy grows as the child grows inside the womb, and it pulls the spine like this. What happens is that, the lower spine has a lot more stress on it. Also, the upper spine kind of stretches like this and has more stress on it, as well. So, that’s a big factor coupled with the weight gain. The third factor to consider is the effect of a hormone called relaxin. Relaxin relaxes ligaments, hence the name. What it’s designed to do is, relax the ligaments right here between the pubic bones to allow them to separate so that the child can pass through the birth canal.

The problem with that is that, relaxin has an effect systemically, so it will loosen ligaments in the elbow, the neck, the low back, all over the place. So things are getting out of place more easily. That, coupled with the weight gain and weight shift, really leads to, a lot of times, an uncomfortable experience in pregnancy. It doesn’t necessarily have to be that way though. With chiropractic, we can gently, specifically, safely realign structure of the mom-to-be. In doing so, we actually realign the structure of where the baby is living inside here. This is the pelvic bowl, this is where the child is gestating or growing before birth, and it’s right on the other side of what we call the sacrum. This is the foundation or base of the spine and the two pelvic bones.

When these get out of alignment, it changes and distorts the pelvic bowl inside. So what can happen is that if that shifts around, the child can kinda turn in the womb, and this is a big cause for children turning in utero. So, we have specialized tables that allow the mom-to-be to lay on her stomach with kind of open piece there for her tummy so there’s nothing pressing on it. We also have pillow systems like this that allow for the mom-to-be to lay on her stomach. So, it should be really comfortable and specific. It’s totally safe and should allow for a more comfortable experience of pregnancy, but also birth and postpartum.

I’m Dr. Steven Battaglino with Battaglino Family Chiropractic, and this has been your Health Minute.

Chiropractic Care for Whiplash

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Hi. Dr. Steve Battaglino here with Battaglino Chiropractic. Today, I want to talk a little bit about whiplash injuries. Whiplash usually occurs as a result of a motor vehicle accident, like a car accident.  If we analyze that, when you’re sitting in a car driving or as a passenger, you’re usually wearing a seat belt. Hopefully, you are. The seat belt is what makes you, what connects you essentially to the car. So, from the seat belt level down, your trunk and so forth, becomes part of the seat and part of the vehicle that you are in.

Let’s say, you’re driving. Let’s say, actually, you are stopped at a stop light.  A car approaches you from behind, and they’re not paying attention. Maybe they are text messaging. I know you don’t. But let’s say they are. They rear-end you, and what happens is the seat of the car, the trunk of your body moves forward, but the head and neck stay stationary in the first phase.   It looks kind of like this. They move forward, your head stays in the same place, and then it stretches forward violently and kind of whips forward and then whips back like this.

There are three different phases to get injured in. It’s kind of a drag, but what happens is it doesn’t really take a lot of velocity change for these injuries to occur. The injuries are to the muscles, the ligaments of the neck, also the joints, and the discs and nerves in the neck.  Studies show that a change in velocity of as little as five miles an hour… So, let’s say, you are in a parking lot, you are going five miles an hour and you accidentally read-end somebody. Just that change right there can be enough to cause these types of injuries. It doesn’t have to be rear-end or front impact. It can be side impact as well. It kind of stretches the neck like so.

These types of injuries do excellent with chiropractic care. The reason is you might have some damaged muscles or ligaments in there in addition to the discs, the bones, and the nerves. What happens is that they get stretched. They might get a little bit torn. And because the areas of the spine are misaligned due to the injury, or even maybe they existed there prior to the injury, it pulls on those tissues that are already torn and injured. It doesn’t feel so good. Plus, it hinders the body’s ability to heal. By restoring proper alignment gently to these areas, it allows the muscles and joints to heal up more quickly, but also more permanently so that you are not dealing with the same injury down the road.