Chiropractic Care Helps Patient With Pregnancy-Related Pelvic Pain – Case Study

From the June 2009 issue of the scientific periodical the Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics comes a case study that documents the improvement of pelvic pain in a pregnant woman with chiropractic care. In this case a 28-year-old female, 32 weeks pregnant, came into a chiropractic office with the chief complaint of sharp, stabbing pain starting at the left sacroiliac joint and radiating into her left thigh.

In this case the woman was in her third pregnancy and did not have pain problems with her previous two pregnancies. However, in this pregnancy her pain was so severe that it was affecting her daily life. A chiropractic examination was performed and due to her pregnancy, no x-rays were taken. A diagnosis of pelvic subluxation was made and a plan of correction was determined.

The initial chiropractic care consisted of two visits a week for 4 weeks, one visit a week for 4 weeks and one visit every two weeks for a month. The results documented in this case study showed that the woman felt little or no change during the first week of care. However, during the second week of care she experienced a 50% reduction in her pain.

Unfortunately during the fourth week of care, the woman reported that she had fallen backwards over a chair and felt the pelvic and leg pain return almost immediately with the same intensity as before. However, with an increase in frequency of her adjustments she was feeling 90% improvement by the 6th week. After the 8th week of care, she delivered a health baby boy.

There was no return of her pelvic pain after her delivery. She occasionally experienced some dull lower back pain as her body returned to a normal state, but these episodes were mild and helped with chiropractic. The study noted that 4 months after delivery, the woman remains pain free.