Chiropractic Care for Pregnancy in Clarksville TN
Chiropractic care for pregnancy, as we practice it, is aimed at one thing: the back and pelvic aches that come with carrying a growing baby. Pregnancy changes how your low back and pelvis carry load, and muscle and joint aches are among the most commonly reported complaints along the way. A few symptoms that feel like an ordinary ache aren't one, and those belong with your OB, your midwife or an emergency room instead of us.
Your obstetrician or midwife is in charge of your pregnancy. Nothing on this page is advice about it, and any decision about care while you're pregnant is one to make with them. We cover chiropractic safety during pregnancy on a page of its own, including what the research shows and where it runs out.
How pregnancy changes your back and pelvis, trimester by trimester
First trimester. Hormonal change is the big story at this stage. Nausea, fatigue and breast tenderness are common. Headaches are common in early pregnancy too, and they have many possible contributors, including hormonal change, dehydration, disrupted sleep, and cutting back on caffeine. The mechanical changes described below are mostly still ahead. We mention that because early aches often have a cause other than load.
Second trimester. This is when the mechanics change. The uterus grows, your center of mass moves forward, and the lumbar spine typically compensates by increasing its inward curve. The hormone relaxin loosens ligaments, including the ones in the pelvis. That lets the pelvic ring make room for birth, and it also takes away some of the passive stability those ligaments normally provide. Low back pain and pelvic girdle pain most often show up or get worse from here on.
Third trimester. Load and ligament looseness are both at their peak. Pelvic girdle pain, felt at the front of the pelvis or over the joints at the back of it, is common. A comfortable sleeping position gets harder to find, and rib and upper back discomfort is common as the ribcage makes room.
Pregnancy symptoms that need your OB, midwife or emergency care
Some symptoms in pregnancy aren't muscle or joint problems at all, and they can't wait for a chiropractic appointment. Two of them matter most here, because they're easy to mistake for the aches this page is about.
Call 911 or go to an emergency department now for:
- Chest pain, or difficulty breathing
- Pain, swelling, redness or warmth in one calf or leg
- Severe abdominal pain
- Fainting, or a seizure
- Severe headache with visual changes
Pain or swelling in one leg can be a blood clot, and chest pain or breathlessness can be a clot that has traveled to the lung. Pregnancy raises the risk of both, and both are routinely mistaken for a muscle problem. Don't bring either of those to a chiropractic appointment.
Contact your obstetrician or midwife the same day for:
- Vaginal bleeding, or loss of fluid
- A reduction in fetal movement
- A headache that will not go away
- A fever
- Any symptom that concerns you
Headache later in pregnancy gets its own mention. A new severe or persistent headache, especially with visual changes or swelling, is a reason to contact your OB or midwife promptly. It isn't a reason to book with us.
What chiropractic care during pregnancy is for
Our care during pregnancy is for musculoskeletal complaints: low back pain, pelvic girdle pain, and the stiffness and restricted movement that go with them. That's the whole list.
It isn't aimed at organ function, digestion, the course of the pregnancy, how long or hard labor is, or the likelihood of complications. The evidence doesn't support using it for any of those.
We're chiropractors in Clarksville, and we regularly treat pregnant patients at our office on Memorial Drive. When you're pregnant, we use pregnancy pillows so you can lie comfortably, we modify our adjusting technique, and we generally use less force, as our page on prenatal chiropractic care describes. Those changes are about how you lie and how we adjust. They don't take the risk out of treatment, and they don't change what the research shows about safety. None of our doctors currently holds a separate prenatal chiropractic certification.
Your first visit starts with one of our chiropractors going over your health history, your symptoms and your goals, then an exam. For some back and pelvic problems in pregnancy, hands-on treatment isn't the right choice, and finding that out is what the exam is for.
We'll tell you what we find, including when it's not something we treat. If we can't help, or if what you're dealing with belongs with your OB or midwife, we'll say so and point you to whoever can.
Other options for pregnancy back and pelvic pain
Chiropractic care is one option among several for pregnancy-related back and pelvic pain. Here are the others, and what each one has going for it:
- Guided exercise programs are widely used for pregnancy-related low back pain, and you can keep them up at home. Which program suits you depends on your pregnancy and on screening for the conditions that rule out specific activities, and that's a question for your OB or midwife.
- Obstetric or pelvic-health physical therapy is done by physical therapists specifically trained to work with pregnant patients.
- Pelvic support belts are used for pelvic girdle pain. They're inexpensive next to a course of treatment and they're worn on the outside, so they carry little of the risk a hands-on treatment does.
- Heat, rest and changing how you do things address a good deal of it without seeing anyone at all.
- Pain medication chosen with your OB or midwife, where medication makes sense in pregnancy.
A realistic look at the risk. Manual care in pregnancy is generally described as well tolerated, and serious adverse events reported in the literature are rare. It isn't risk-free; no manual therapy is. Rarely reported isn't the same as rare. There's no systematic reporting system for adverse events after manual therapy, so published counts describe what's been written up, not everything that's happened, and the true rate isn't known. The effects people report most often are short-lived soreness after treatment.
Any of these alternatives may be a better fit for you than chiropractic care, and they belong in the conversation with your OB or midwife.
If you're pregnant and your back or pelvis is the problem, give our Clarksville office a call.
Follow the evidence
Research, with context.
Selected published sources behind what we've written, each with what it found and what it can't tell us. We give you both halves because no paper can diagnose you or predict how your own care will go.
A randomized controlled trial comparing a multimodal intervention and standard obstetrics care for low back and pelvic pain in pregnancy
169 pregnant participants enrolled at 24 to 28 weeks, with outcomes assessed at 33 weeks.
What it foundManual therapy, stabilization exercise and education alongside obstetric care improved pain and disability compared with standard obstetric care alone.
What it can't tell usBecause the program combined several things, it can't separate out the effect of an adjustment. It doesn't show a benefit for delivery, fetal position or the baby's health. The publication record links a correction.
Publication details & citation
George et al. A randomized controlled trial comparing a multimodal intervention and standard obstetrics care for low back and pelvic pain in pregnancy. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2013. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajog.2012.10.869.
Read the publication record
Our editorial policy explains how to read these sources and what our clinical-review labels mean.