Study reveals one-third of patients seek chiropractic for pain during pregnancy

January 6, 2011 — The December 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics (JCCP) includes an original study on the characteristics of pregnant women who seek chiropractic care in Norway.

The study was approved by the AECC of Chiropractic Ethics Research Sub-Committee for Postgraduate Research in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and conducted at a chiropractic clinic in Oslo.

According to authors Elisabeth Aas-Jackobsen, BS, DC, MS and Joyce E. Miller, DC, DABCO, the study was designed to collect demographic data from the first 100 women presenting at the clinic that included reason for visiting the clinic, average weeks of pain versus pain sites and the number of pain sites versus number of chiropractic treatments.

The study found that 90 percent of the patients’ chief complaint was pelvic pain; for 30 percent of the patients chiropractic was their first choice of treatment; and those who had never had back pain before waited the shortest time before seeking treatment. The authors also found that the longer the patients waited to seek chiropractic care the more pain sites they experienced and the more areas of the spine were treated.

Chiropractic and pregnancy is the focus of the articles published in the December 2010 JCCP. Papers include management of care during pregnancy for intercostal neuralgia; gestational diabetes mellitus, non-optimal fetal positioning and pelvic girdle positioning and dysfunction; musculoskeletal and radicular pain during pregnancy, labor and delivery and the concurrent use of spinal manipulative therapy, craniosacral therapy and dynamic body balancing techniques. There is also a paper on complementary and alternative care for infertility issues.

A unique feature of JCCP is the discussion and management of specific cases by a multidisciplinary panel in a grand rounds format. The diagnosis of the patients in the two cases discussed in this issue (one in Australia and the other in England), relate to sacroiliac joint dysfunction and pelvic girdle instability

The Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics is published by the ICA Council on Chiropractic Pediatrics and provided free of charge to its members. JCCP is available to non-members for an annual subscription fee. Members and subscribers receive a hard copy but are also able to access issues online with the ability to download papers without an additional fee.

Source: Council on Chiropractic Pediatrics, www.icapediatrics.com