How Chiropractic Works
Hi Breathe family! My name is Dr. Nicole Shabino and I’m the hands behind Mindful Journey Chiropractic. I’m certified to care for women during pregnancy and beyond, as well as children hours old through adulthood. I’d like to start with a visual. Your spine has many openings where nerves pass through to feed your organs with information. Think of your spine as a garden hose. If your garden hose has a small kink in it, you get 10-25% less water. If your garden hose has a larger kink in it, you get 50-100% less water. This is EXACTLY how your spine works. If there’s a “kink” in your spine, 1 or multiple nerves may be affected. This in turn doesn’t allow all of your organs to work properly.
So what happens if your organs don’t work properly? Your body sends warning signs. This can show up as pain, headaches, bed wetting, colic, ear infections, allergies, asthma, autism/ ADHD, sleep disturbances, fertility struggles, constipation/diarrhea, numbness, scoliosis, torticollis, irregular head shape, cold/flu, lack of coordination, acid reflux, nursing difficulties, irregular/painful cycles, heartburn, lack of focus, pubis pain, round ligament pain, sciatica, joint pain etc. That was a long list and there’s plenty of others I could have listed!
Chiropractic care gets the kinks out of the garden hose so that you get 100% of the water – i.e. your body is given the opportunity to function at 100%
Beginning with Pregnancy
Now that we understand how chiropractic works, let’s talk about a couple specific populations of clients. Beginning with pregnancy. As your baby grows, your center of gravity changes and parts of your body may begin to feel the strain. This typically shows up as pain, but many moms get nauseous, heartburn, sciatica, low back pain, difficulty sleeping, round ligament pain, pubis pain etc. The other piece I help with is ensuring that the baby gets in the best possible position for birth. This happens through keeping the pelvis and sacrum aligned so that the baby has the most room to settle into a head down position. Many moms report faster and easier labors with chiropractic care through pregnancy and who couldn’t use that?!?! And, I’ve got pregnancy pillows that allow you to comfortably lie on your stomach during your visits ☺
Postpartum
Holy buckets you just had a baby. That’s the most wonderful experience of your life! But holy buckets you’re exhausted, starving, likely leaking milk and your body feels like it’s been run over after working so hard to meet your baby through labor and possibly *sleeping* in the most uncomfortable hospital bed. This is where it gets even cooler (in my humble opinion that is ☺). I can COME TO YOUR HOUSE and adjust you. I bring the table and pillows, get you comfortable, and get you put back together so that you’re in tip-top shape to care for that tiny adorable human!
Infants
Why in the world would an infant need adjusted? Because birth is beautiful and hard at the same time – for mom and baby. I use the amount of pressure you would to test the ripeness of an avocado to adjust an infant spine – gentle pressure in the comfort of mom’s arms. This helps infants with sleep, nursing/latch, side preference, spit up/re-flux, constipation, colic, head shape, and being comfortable overall. I can easily check baby at home too. Chiropractic gives their nervous system the best start to a healthy life!
I hope this helps you understand a bit more about how chiropractic works and sheds light on the specialized populations it can help.