Pelvic Shearing and Pregnancy
By Laura Sheehan-Barron, D.C.
Have you ever wondered if that fall you took last year on your tush while snowboarding will affect your pelvis now that you are pregnant this year?Have you ever wondered as you watch your child learn to walk, will all those spills and falls have a lasting effect?
After checking hundreds of toddlers in a mere 8 years of practice, I can say sometimes a fall will show up as a stuck Sacrum (the big triangular shaped bone above the tailbone). Sometimes the children have a stuck Illium from their last fall. This could show up right away. As they go back to crawling (until they really take allot of steps) the child may start crawling backwards like baby Cameron did.
He took a few steps, fell and then crawled again for a few more weeks. His mom, Jen, noticed he was crawling backward and we found the stuck Sacrum, adjusted it with very light force and he started crawling forwards again.
If these children never were checked by a Pediatric Chiropractor do you think that stuck bone would stick with them all the way through life without them knowing it into the child-bearing years?
Well, from my experience in practice in 8 years seeing hundreds of pregnant woman, it could.
I have seen numerous women’s bodies who have accommodated to the misalignment. Interestingly, they may have pain as their body weight increases or there may be no pain at all to alert them that something isn’t quite right.
In Chiropractic, we call these silent Subluxations. A Subluxation is a condition of less electrical energy from a nerve that is irritated by a stuck joint, (like the Illium or Sacrum). On the other end of that spinal nerve is an organ or cluster of cells in soft tissue not receiving the full spectrum of information from the spinal cord.
Getting back to woman’s bodies, lots of women come in during Pregnancy for various reasons and virtually none of them have heard about Pelvic Shearing. Pelvic Shearing can happen anytime there is a hard enough fall on one side to push the Illium and Pubic bone forward on one side. I imagine this could also happen in a delivery of a footling breech too.
There are 5 different joints of the Pelvis, 2 upper, and 2 lower of the Sacro-Illiac joint that can be misaligned, the Pubic bone is a joint. My mentor Dr. Bill Ruch spent hundreds of hours in a Cadaver lab looking at this condition. He saw it in practice first and got curious about it. He has published a book called “Common Subluxations of the Human Spine”, here is a picture excerpted from his book.
It takes about 3 months to correct Pelvic Shearing without the effects of Relaxin (the hormone that helps all your joints to loosen during Pregnancy). During Pregnancy I correct it as best as I can and teach you how to maintain the re-alignment at home. Then after you deliver when the Relaxin starts to leave the body at the 6th-8th month Post Partum the real correction and stabilization can take place.
What happens if Pelvic Shearing isn’t addressed during Pregnancy? No one really can say if it causes additional intervention during labor and delivery. We need further study of this condition. But, imagine how much easier labor and delivery is when the Pelvis is completely aligned and symmetrical. Then there wouldn’t be any impedance to the infants exit on the Mother’s part.
It is interesting to note that about ¾ of all Pregnant women who come to Chiropractic in my office in pain also have Pelvic Shearing. If you suspect you may have Pelvic Shearing because of your history of falls, the main thing to do is keep your pelvis in the same plane at all times, this means getting into your car by sitting first then swinging your legs together. Sitting to get dressed and getting in and out of bed with both feet. No lunges or Pigeon pose or Warrior II in Yoga. For a Yoga teacher who knows how to work with Pelvic Shearing try the Prenatal Yoga class at the Mindful Body with Kari Marble on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
I am always available for a free consultation to see if this is an issue for you at 415-681-1031.
May the blessings be.
Read my Pelvic Shearing Care Sheet
View Diagram of Pelvic Shearing
