Often times the stresses of pregnancy affects the hips.  As the baby grows, the mother’s body goes through changes to accommodate.  This leaves the baby wanting to favor a side of the mom within her pelvis.  Asymmetry in the pelvic region, leads to shotting or aching pain in the hips.  The ligaments in the pelvis relax and stretch as the baby grows,  the body signals the brain with pain to alert the mom.  One of the main joints that are affected by this is the sacroiliac, or SI joint.  It is a major joint where the tailbone (sacrum) and the hip bones (iliac) attach.  Stretching can help, but it doesn’t affect the misalignment of the joint only the muscles around the joint.  Gentle, and specific adjustments to the area, will help alleviate the pain. 

     Also, when the mother is having pain in her back, it affects the growing ligaments along the front part of her belly.  In order to help stabilize the growing baby, mothers have ligaments in the back and front parts of their pelvis.  Thus if there is asymmetry affecting the mother’s back, it’s affecting the front or lower belly as well.  The Webster technique, is a gentle and effective way to help the strained ligaments in the front and back parts of the pelvis and alleviate belly pain from pregnancy.  At times, this technique can also help with “turning” a baby.

Borggren CL. Pregnancy and chiropractic: a narrative review of the literature. J Chiropr Med. 2007 Jun;6(2):70-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jcme.2007.04.004. PMID: 19674697; PMCID: PMC2647084.