From the first trimester to the final weeks before delivery, pregnancy puts your musculoskeletal system through a remarkable transformation. As your baby grows, your center of gravity moves forward, causing your lower back to curve more deeply inward. Your pelvis tilts. Your shoulders round to compensate. Hormones like relaxin loosen the ligaments that normally keep your joints stable — which is necessary for childbirth, but it also means your spine and hips have less built-in support than usual.

The result? Many expecting moms in Homewood find themselves dealing with persistent lower back pain, hip tightness, and that sharp, pulling sensation known as round ligament pain. These aren’t just the unavoidable miseries of pregnancy — they’re signals that your body is asking for support.

How Chiropractic Adjustments Help During Pregnancy

Chiropractic care focuses on restoring proper alignment to the spine and pelvis, which is exactly what pregnancy tends to disrupt. A chiropractor trained in prenatal care uses gentle, modified techniques that are safe and comfortable for both mother and baby.

Here’s how it addresses some of the most common pregnancy discomforts:

• Lower back pain: Spinal adjustments relieve pressure on the joints and nerves aggravated by your changing posture, reducing the deep, nagging ache that makes it hard to stand, sit, or sleep comfortably.
• Hip discomfort: As the pelvis widens and ligaments loosen, the sacroiliac joints can shift out of balance. Gentle pelvic adjustments help restore symmetry and ease that grinding or aching hip pain.
• Round ligament tension: While chiropractic care doesn’t directly adjust the round ligaments themselves, restoring pelvic alignment reduces the uneven pulling forces on these structures — often providing meaningful relief.
• Overall posture support: Regular care helps counteract the forward lean and shoulder rounding that develops as your belly grows, reducing the compensatory strain that can travel all the way up to your neck and mid-back.

Proactive Prenatal Care Is Worth Starting Early

One of the most common misconceptions about pregnancy pain is that you simply have to endure it. Waiting until discomfort becomes severe before seeking care usually means more time spent compensating — which creates new patterns of strain on top of the original problem.

Starting chiropractic care early in your pregnancy, even before significant pain sets in, helps your body adapt to each stage of change from a stronger, better-aligned foundation. Many patients find that consistent prenatal care through all three trimesters leads to a smoother, more comfortable experience overall — not just a reduction in pain when it flares up.

There’s also evidence suggesting that a properly aligned pelvis may support optimal fetal positioning as delivery approaches, which is one reason many midwives and OBs are supportive of prenatal chiropractic care. As always, we encourage open communication between all members of your care team.

Safe, Natural, and Tailored to You

Dr. Diane Barton takes a patient-centered approach to prenatal care — which means adjustments are always adapted to your stage of pregnancy and your comfort level. The goal isn’t just to get you through the next appointment feeling a little better; it’s to help you feel strong and supported throughout the entire journey.

If you’re pregnant and dealing with back pain, hip discomfort, or just want to stay ahead of the physical demands ahead, schedule a visit with Dr. Barton at her Homewood, IL office. We’d love to be part of your prenatal care team.

Ready to get started? Call us at (708) 400-2620.

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Myofascial pain syndrome is a chronic pain disorder characterized by pressure in sensitive points in the muscles called trigger points. In MPS, the stimulus point of pain is not where symptoms are felt; rather, the pain is referred to other points in the body. For example, a point of tension in the back could be causing pain to be referred to your head and you may think you are having chronic headaches. Many people are familiar with muscle strain or prolonged tension that causes pain, but MPS is unique because the pain will persist and, in many cases, worsen. Fortunately, MPS responds well to conservative treatment modalities, of the kind we offer.

Symptoms of MPS include: 

• Deep pain in a muscle
• Pain that gets worse with time, despite rest or treatment
• Tenderness in the muscles
• Referred pain 
• Difficulty sleeping because of pain

Myofascial release and trigger point therapy are two modalities we utilize to help people suffering from myofascial pain syndrome.

• Trigger point therapy utilizes cycles of pressure and releases from the chiropractor’s fingerprints that get into the knots and release pain. While it is not the most comfortable form of massage, we follow up with a more relaxing hands-on treatment that helps increase circulation in the area, bringing oxygen and vital nutrients. 
• Myofascial release treats the problem similarly by relaxing the muscles, stimulating the stretch reflex in the affected muscle, and improving blood and lymph circulation. 

These are minimally invasive techniques that can help you find serious release from myofascial pain syndrome. Furthermore, we can show you ways to target trigger points from home or in the office so that you can help yourself next time the pain flares up. 

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Let’s subscribe to the conventional wisdom that working in an office has fewer risks than working construction, or directing traffic or being a lion trainer … … … The risks associated with office work are much less glaring and tend to fly under the radar as they build up over the years. Many people exit office life riddled with degeneration- carpal tunnel in the fingers, degeneration in the spine, pain in the lower body. These are insidious diseases and are caused by the sedentary nature of the office. If we are going to work hard all our lives in an office before retirement, we may as well set our bodies up for success to enjoy that hard-earned freedom. 

Here are some ways to combat pain on the job

• Scheduling breaks: once an hour at the top of the hour; it’s easy to remember and all you have to do is stand up and move for 60 seconds.
• Resetting posture regularly: whenever the thought strikes you, shake out the tension and reset to an upright position. 
• Supporting the lower back: this region needs the most support so lend it a hand with a cushion to maintain the curve throughout your lower back. 
• Using a headset: if you use your phone a lot, consider using a headset to encourage the upright position. 
• Massaging yourself: gently rub tender spots with your hands and release trigger points from tension.

If you have long-standing pain that is made worse in the office, it’s time to stop taking a painkiller, shrugging off the pain, and continuing to work. We want to help you get to the root of your pain and set a course for healing your condition that starts with the therapy we provide. Give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

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Relieving lumbar pressure with decompression therapy

There are many ways we can work to prevent the damage that will result from pressure accumulation. Strengthening the core stabilizing muscles and improving our posture are tied for the most important thing we can do to help our lumbar vertebrae- stronger muscles support the burden while better posture reduces the pressure. If your spine is suffering from the effects of too much pressure, i.e. herniated disc, degenerative disc disease, sciatica, nonspecific back pain and nerve compression, decompression therapy can help. 

Decompression therapy uses manual and instrument-assisted modalities to stretch the spine and provide healing therapy by doing the following things:

• Opening space between the vertebrae
• Providing for rehydration of intervertebral discs
• Allowing for retraction of bulging disc material 
• Elongate the spine and provide for spinal realignment 

Decompression therapy feels great and provides pain relief and lasting correction of spinal misalignment. If you are interested in using decompression therapy to reverse the accumulative effects of pressure on your spine, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

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A well-aligned body is more resilient to injuries

A tried and true analogy uses the maintenance of a car as an example: regular oil checks and maintenance ensure that your car keeps running longer and doesn’t let you down when you need it most. The human body is a machine that requires regular maintenance in a similar way; circulation and range of motion are important for ensuring that every cell in your body receives the oxygen and nutrients it needs to prosper. Furthermore, your muscles and tendons both crave use to enhance their elasticity. You can even see your pets stretching all day long as they lounge around between naps. It can be a bad sign if you aren’t moving more than your cat!

Chiropractic is preventative healthcare

Spinal adjustments and hands-on attention to the muscles allow your body to work its best. By correcting spinal misalignment, we facilitate smoother functioning of the nervous system which allows your body to protect itself from injury and to heal itself more effectively. If you are interested in finding out more about how chiropractic keeps your body working its best, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

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We can make starting an exercise plan less painful

So when was the last time you hit that 150 minutes per-week goal for exercise? Does the thought of getting up and starting give you the slightest pang of anxiety? If the thought of getting in shape seems like an insurmountable task, we want to help you get motivated and start moving. We start with what is at stake: the health of your body in the here and now, and its longevity for the future. As the foundation for your upper body, this is the only spine you get. Keeping it in a state of balance, with a strong set of surrounding muscles, is the best possible thing you can do to preserve it for the future. 

How we help you start exercising

We begin by evaluating your musculoskeletal health and providing adjustments to restore spinal alignment and balance. The spinal adjustment has been shown to exhibit a domino effect on our musculoskeletal health including:

• Relieving painful nerve impingement
• Improving range of motion
• Improving circulation

This sets you off on the right foot to start exercising. From here, we can show you simple but effective body-weight exercises for improving the core stabilizers, a set of muscles that provide support for the lower spine. These muscles are the best ally your spine has in its fight against pain and degeneration. One last area of focus is balancing muscles that become over and underworked due to poor biomechanics and posture. We help you affect a wholesale improvement of your biomechanical awareness and postural habits. 

Getting in shape to exercise starts with chiropractic

At our Chiropractic office, we are not short on incentives when it comes to exercise. We want to help you get motivated- give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

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Mapping your circulation

Think of your brain and how every millisecond of the day it is controlling and coordinating the function of the human body. If you starved this vital organ of its input, how could you expect it to work well? Well, the main input for the brain is oxygen! In fact, while it only accounts for 2% of body mass, the brain consumes up to 20% of the oxygen that enters the bloodstream. Part of the reason for this is that even when you are completely idle or sleeping, the brain is still completely active. Lack of sufficient oxygen to the brain is associated with poor memory, dizziness, fatigue, headache, and other more serious conditions. 

Chiropractic for enhancing circulation

Circulation and chiropractic go hand in hand. Because we utilize hands-on modalities to improve health, a boost in circulation is a natural outcome. Chiropractic adjustment frees up nerve pathways and attention to muscles through massage and trigger-point therapy stimulates the body to let the blood flow, increasing circulation to areas that are in need. If you are interested in finding out more about how chiropractic can help improve circulation, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

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