When are you going to have a baby?

Having been married 3 years, embarking on age 26, and more of my social media news feed being crowded with pregnancy announcements, gender reveals, and newborn photo shoots I can’t help but think about all the women who aren’t posting of the joys of pregnancy and childbirth, are they not interested in having a child or are they struggling with miscarriages or haunted by infertility?

According to the CDC 7.3 million women have sought out infertility services, this does not include the women who are struggling and have not yet looked for help. Over 7.3 million, infertility can be devastating to a couple longing for a child of their own. Some of the commonly documented causes for infertility included; ovulatory dysfunction (10-20%), sperm disorders (35%), pelvic dysfunction (30-40%) such as endometriosis, adhesions or tubal disease, abnormal cervical mucus (5%), unidentified factors (10%), and not to mention hormonal imbalances and nerve dysfunction. I am writing this post to talk about the last factor listed, nerve dysfunction.

When you think about all of the events that have to take place in the body to conceive and all of the events that have to take place in a woman’s body to carry a fetus to term it can be overwhelming. A woman doesn’t have to tell her body when to use the right amount of vitamin C to formulate collagen used to make blood vessels or calcium to form the nearly 300 bones present in the baby’s body at birth. The human body was created with an intelligence that functions regardless of our awareness of it's presences. This intelligence communicates to every portion of our body through the highways of the nervous system. Our spinal column plays an important role in protecting and insuring that those messages are received clearly and correctly. When we have misalignments in our spinal column that protection is weakened and can result in improper or impaired messages, nerve interference, or nerve dysfunction. So if you think about it nerve messages that control reproduction and sustain pregnancy could very well be the victim of this nerve dysfunction.

In a review consisting of several case studies related to infertility eleven women ages 22-42 sought out chiropractic care. Some of their pregnancy histories included: one natural childbirth, two miscarriages, two failed IVF, and three artificial inseminations. These women presented with a variety of chief complaints ranging from low back pain, infertility, dysmenorrhea, to ankle pain and neck pain. While under chiropractic care all eleven women were able to conceive with no further medical treatment and maintain successful pregnancies. Although case studies are limited and do not exist to seek a cure for infertility, they do provide support that chiropractic care may help facilitate improved function of the reproductive system and enhance a woman’s chances of a successful pregnancy and birth.

Infertility is often seen as an issue dealing with the woman’s reproductive system, males are not excluded. In my office it is dire that both male and female trying to conceive be under chiropractic care to ensure both have clear nervous systems allowing for optimum function of the reproductive system.

Chiropractic is a safe and effective approach in helping couples conceive. Don’t get me wrong I am in no way under the impression that all infertility issues can be improved by chiropractic care alone but I do know a spine without misalignments and a nervous system functioning at optimum potential is limitless!