Webster Technique
What is the Webster Technique?
Developed by Dr. Larry Webster the founder of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA) the assessment includes heel flexion to buttocks, with restricted flexion indicating the affected SI joint.
Correction is made with a diversified, sacral adjustment. Part Two of the correction includes palpation of the round ligaments – an anteriorly located ligament that supports the uterus, using the more restricted ligament as a point to release. Common symptoms treated include (but are not limited to) low back pain, sciatic neuralgia, and symptoms associated with sacral subluxation and or SI joint dysfunction.
Pregnancy and Chiropractic Care
As a pregnancy develops, stress is increasingly placed on the body, causing incredible discomfort for some women. A woman’s center of gravity immediately begins to shift forward during pregnancy. Although a woman’s posterior section of the pelvis has the capacity and depth enabling her to carry a baby, the displaced weight still increases stress on her joints. As the baby gets bigger, a woman’s weight continues to project forward, curving more her lower back and placing extra stress on the spinal disks. Towards the end of the pregnancy, the sciatic nerve may be irritated when the baby’s head begins pressing down on a woman’s back, legs, and buttocks.
How Chiropractic Can Help Pregnancy
Before pregnancy, a visit to the chiropractor can detect any imbalances in the pelvis or elsewhere that may contribute to pregnancy discomfort. During pregnancy, chiropractic care can control symptoms of nausea, relieve back, neck, or joint pain, and even prevent a potential cesarean delivery. Research has also found that chiropractic adjustments can provide relief from low-back pain, muscle tensions, headaches, and shoulder problems in pregnant women.
During pregnancy, chiropractors can help assure optimum biomechanics in the hips and spine-reducing labor complications. Adjusting your body during pregnancy will avoid unneeded pressure on the abdomen, overall reduction of undue stress to the uterus and to the supporting ligaments. Webster technique (See below) is used during this stage of pregnancy.
Even after childbirth, in the weeks following labor and delivery, the ligaments that loosened during pregnancy can begin to tighten up again with the help of chiropractic care.