Are you an active mom eager to return to your sport after welcoming your little one?
The postpartum period comes with its fair share of challenges that not only bring about physical changes but also cause hormonal and mental fluctuations. So, for athletic women wanting to return to their sports, these challenges add to the complexity of the situation and require them to take special care of their bodily needs and requirements.
Since a majority of changes are physiological, opting for chiropractors in Kelowna can be a great way to facilitate postpartum recovery. In this blog, we will take a deep dive and learn how chiropractic care can help in the postpartum recovery of women in sports!
How Can Chiropractors Help?
During pregnancy, a woman’s body undergoes a myriad of hormonal and physiological changes. Along with preparing the body for childbirth, these changes also facilitate stress in the musculoskeletal system, including the spine, pelvis, and surrounding areas. Added to that, pregnancy also causes lowered posture and increases the overall body weight which are key contributors to a range of musculoskeletal issues.
The best Kelowna chiropractors focus on elevating the performance of the musculoskeletal system through a range of activities like soft tissue therapies, manual adjustments, and a handful of rehab exercises. This translates to a smooth and convenient postpartum recovery, which helps optimize athletic performance.
Key Benefits of Chiropractic Care
Now let’s look at some of the key benefits that make chiropractic care a staple choice for mothers seeking postpartum recovery-
Improves and Enhances Joint Mobility
The phenomenon of pregnancy brings about significant alterations all over the body. The slowly-growing fetus causes a shift in the centre of gravity, thereby putting a lot of stress on the spine, pelvis, and the associated muscles. These are major contributors to stiffness in the joints and muscles, resulting in a reduced range of motion.
The best chiropractor in Kelowna, BC, focuses on restoring spinal alignments. This helps relieve pressure on the nerves and also loosens the tightness of the adjacent muscles, thereby translating to reduced pressure on the joints.
Restores Pelvic Health
The pelvic muscles are the ones that receive the maximum strain during pregnancy. This often leads to issues such as pelvic misalignments, pain, instability, and even dysfunction, resulting in urinary incontinence which might affect the overall quality of life of athletic women.
Reputed Kelowna wellness clinics like Valeo Health Clinic house professional chiropractors who can help assist in realigning the pelvis. This reduces the pressure on the pelvic joints significantly and also helps in restoring balance in the pelvic floor muscles, thereby restoring strength and stability.
Helps Address Diastasis Recti
Diastasis Recti, more commonly referred to as the loosening or separation of the abdominal muscles, is one of the most common conditions among pregnant women in their postpartum period. This especially occurs in women who had to undergo cesarean section during childbirth.
Opting for chiropractic care is one of the best things to do to address cases of Diastasis Recti. It involves specialized movements and exercises that assist in strengthening the weakened abdominal muscles, ultimately resulting in closing the separated muscles optimally. This helps develop core stability and also offers great spinal support, which is very helpful for women involved in athletics.
Helps Tackle Sciatic Pain
Sciatic pain, or pregnancy-related sciatica is another one of the side effects of pregnancy that many women suffer. Here, the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower back to down the legs, gets swelled and can result in pain and numbness in the legs and lower back region, disallowing the patient to move freely.
Staying under the treatment of a chiropractor can be of significant help in such challenging situations. Manual adjustments of the spine and specialized strengthening and stretching exercises help take off the stress from the vertebral column. This reduces the inflammation of the sciatic nerve, thereby reducing the overall pain from the lower back and legs, which ultimately helps in free movement and better stability during workout sessions.
Helps Restore Hormonal Balance
Pregnancy not only induces physiological and mental changes but also a myriad of hormonal changes as well. After childbirth, hormonal fluctuations can be major regulators of mood, energy levels, and overall health of the mother.
Chiropractic care doesn’t only involve exercises and adjustments but also consists of certain lifestyle recommendations, and nutritional and stress-management techniques for a more holistic approach to well-being. This helps to effectively restore the hormonal balances, thereby providing better results for optimal postpartum recovery.
Wrapping It Up
Chiropractic care in reputed Kelowna chiropractic clinics can be one of the most effective and optimal ways to assist a woman in her postpartum recovery period. The spinal adjustments and specialized stretching and mobility exercises not only help to restore physical and mental health but also help in effective hormone regulation, which supports optimal postpartum recovery.
