Women's Health
Pre-Menstrual Syndrome (PMS)
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is characterized by mood swings, swollen abdomen, headaches, back pain, food cravings, fatigue, irritability or depression in the days before a woman’s monthly period. The severity of these symptoms can range from mild to incapacitating and may last from a couple of days to two weeks.
It has been estimated that three of every four menstruating women experience some form of premenstrual syndrome, and it is more likely to trouble women from their late 20s to early 40s. Between 10-20% of all women experience symptoms that are severe or even disabling.
PMS is thought to be a side effect of hormonal changes during the monthly menstrual cycle and can be made worse by stress, decreased serotonin levels in the brain and spinal fixations in the low back.
Although chiropractic care cannot fix the way your body responds to the hormonal changes that precede menstruation, several studies have shown that it can help decrease many of the symptoms of PMS without the potential side effects of prescription drugs. Since the nerves that exit the low back are responsible for regulating all of the tissues in the lower abdomen, any pressure or irritation that can be alleviated through chiropractic care can be helpful.
Women's Health
Women have most of the same health concerns that men have. But women face many health problems unique to them or that more often or more seriously affect women. Doctors of chiropractic have always recognized this and have developed and provided a wide variety of treatment options specifically suited to women's health needs. As a result of this (and also most women tend to have a heightened awareness of their physical condition and are accustomed to seeking help from health professionals), more women regularly rely on chiropractic care.
Women must contend with specific health concerns raised by their female physiology, by the fact that the female body is designed to be able to bear children. Issues involving pregnancy and the menstrual cycle are centrally important health matters for women. Being pregnant, preparing for pregnancy, and recovering from childbirth are female indispositions. Pain during the menstrual period (dysmenorrhea), premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and chronic pelvic pain are among the distressing conditions which disturb the otherwise healthy lives of many women.
Older women are much more likely to develop such serious ailments as Alzheimer's disease (which burdens the afflicted with near-total memory loss and reduced mental functioning) and osteoporosis (in which the bones become weak, brittle, and porous; the posture stooped with the shoulders rounded). These are just two of the problems of aging that women must be aware of and can take steps to prevent.
Less ominous, but more pervasive, are headaches. Women may get headaches during menstrual periods and pregnancy, as well as under ordinary circumstances. They are more likely to be troubled enough by headache pain to find a way to overcome it. Similarly, women are often victims of osteoarthritis (degenerative joint disease) and have a 200 to 300 percent greater chance than men of suffering rheumatoid arthritis.
More and more women have become interested in diet, nutrition, weight loss, exercise, sports and physical activity, and methods for maintaining wellness and general fitness – about which we have considerable knowledge that they are eager to share with their patients. Our wellness programs are particularly well-suited to the special needs of pregnant women, new mothers, women who are overweight, who are in stressful situations, and others who need to protect and strengthen their bones, nerves, joints, muscles and overall health.
Our Treatments
Chiropractic offers demonstrated relief for many of women's health problems. Chiropractic adjustments have been shown to lessen the discomfort of dysmenorrhea and chronic pelvic pain. Numerous back disorders that strike women are addressed and remedied daily, all over the world, by chiropractors skilled in treating those problems and in improving their patients' capacity to cope and improve. Great numbers of women rely on chiropractors because of the caring interaction that develops between patient and doctor and because of chiropractic's effective combination of expert diagnosis, effective spinal adjustments and soft tissue therapy, exercise and nutritional guidance, and lifestyle counseling.