Physical wellness and taking care of your body are very important to us both as individuals and as a business. The better you care for your body, they better it can perform daily functions. Part of the way that we love taking care of ourselves is visiting chiropractors for alignments and better over function.
One of our fantastic chiropractors in Dr. Brooke Sellers of Verve Holistic Health in downtown Raleigh! Dr. Sellers is passionate about working with women of all ages and stages of life to reach their optimal state of health and wellness. We highly recommend her to all of our pregnant and postpartum clients looking for a fantastic Chiropractor in Raleigh.
What is your story to becoming a Chiropractor?
As a young child, the questions of “why?” and “how does that work?” were frequently rolling off of my tongue. I’m fascinated with learning and will always be a student at heart. When I began having headaches as a teenager, I tried various different medications and diets to no avail. Within one visit to a chiropractor, my headaches became less frequent. My chiropractor was not only able to make me feel better, he also could explain why I was getting headaches daily and what changes I could make at home to prevent them. It was life changing to no longer have daily, debilitating headaches. But the thing that truly blew me away was the care I received after tearing my ACL playing soccer. I had followed through with post-op physical therapy and reached “maximum improvement” but was far from the competitive athlete I was prior to the tear. Evaluating my gait patterns, muscular imbalances, and lack of proprioception (knowing where your body is in space) allowed me to tap into my post-op knee and get back into running and playing soccer. This experience drove me to study Athletic Training and Exercise Science in undergrad and eventually to becoming a Chiropractic Physician. Little did I know that path would take me to treating the ultimate athletes- women in the motherhood transition and their little ones.
How does Chiropractic care support women prenatally, during pregnancy, and postpartum?
Foundationally, chiropractic focuses on improving the communication between the nervous system and the rest of your body. Your nervous system is the master control system that orchestrates everything in your body. We also know that structure drives function. Which means that if you can have balance among your nervous system and balance structurally with your physical body, you can have optimal function. I think we can all agree this is vitally important during this period!
Because of our in depth training of how the body functions absent of pathology- aka normally, chiropractors can help families to obtain a state of optimal health which is often missing in a case of infertility. We use our training in nutrition and hormonal pathways to help set the stage for conception. In combination with better communication from our master control center- the nervous system, this typically leads to healthy pregnancies and babies! Seeing a chiropractor is a great first step in working to conceive because we use conservative treatment to help your body do what it was created to do!
The motherhood transition requires numerous changes in both a woman’s physical body and her nervous system as she begins to grow and support another life within her, and then earth-side postpartum. These changes demand a lot on a woman’s body, which is where chiropractic care fits in so perfectly. During this transition, our goal is to help the body adapt and thrive. We do this by performing gentle, specific adjustments to the spine – in most cases, specifically targeting the pelvis. The shape and orientation of the pelvis is an integral part of helping the baby to find proper positioning in utero and also influences the birth process depending on how “open” and how adaptable the tissues are. The uterus, which holds the baby, is also attached to the pelvis in numerous places. If we can bring balance to the pelvis, we can help the uterus to be balanced as well. Think of a basketball net (the uterus) that is twisted and how a basketball would fit into it and get stuck. As specially-trained prenatal chiropractors, we utilize a technique called Webster to help the pelvis be balanced (without twisting) to allow baby to move into the positions needed to descend through the birth canal and enter the world. We also strive to help moms be more comfortable in their ever changing bodies, as this time can bring some discomfort while the body quickly adapts to growing and nurturing another human.
After birth, a mother’s body will begin to nurture the baby from the outside, while also requiring her to carry and move the baby into numerous positions. Her body will now need to support the baby externally. Mom’s will experience their bodies becoming more “stable” as their organs, muscles, and joints return to a mostly-normal state. This process is slow and will take just as long, if not longer, than the almost ten months of creating the baby. During this season, my goal as a chiropractic physician is not only to support mom emotionally, but also to help her through that transition. I do this by helping her body find proper alignment and balance.
One of my favorite things about my job is helping a mom to blossom into her postpartum body. As we say in the BIRTHFIT community, postpartum is forever. Retraining your body by building the foundation first is key! As a chiropractor, I focus on restoring proper balance in the body to allow my patients to further their rehabilitation at home with purposeful movement while they focus on nurturing their baby as well.
If you could give a pregnant woman one piece of advice, what would it be?
Your support system is HUGE during this transition. You can prepare and educate yourself to make the best decisions for yourself and your family, but your support system is made up of the people that are going be fighting for you and along side you through birth and postpartum. Surround yourself with these people and be open to the support and love they will bring. We all need and deserve the help that others want to provide for us!
Share something fun about yourself!
I am an obsessive-compulsive succulent/cacti purchaser. My entire house and office is filled with succulents. I may or may not have accidentally killed quite a few (too embarrassing to count) before I got the hang of it. I now attempt to also keep houseplants alive— still a work in progress!
