Rosita Remarks: Journeys in Healing: “Supporting Changes During Pregnancy” June 2015

Rosita Remarks
Journeys in Healing: Experiences of Arvigo Practitioners and their Clients

This is the fourth in a series of commentaries by Dr. Rosita Arvigo on the clinical practice outcomes presented in the recently published book Journeys in Healing: Experiences of Arvigo Practitioners and their Clients. To access excerpts from the book that contain the case study chapters being discussed in this blog post, click here for Heather ~ Pregnancy Doesnt Have to be Painful and click here for Kyra ~ Persistence Pays Off: Finding Relief for Pregnancy Pain. For more information about the book that includes more than 30 additional case studies focusing on reproductive and digestive wellness practice-based outcomes with the Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy, click here.

Rosita Remarks about: Supporting Changes during Pregnancy

Many women who suffer needlessly during pregnancy believe the old adage we have all heard, Get used to it. The only cure is to have your baby. We know this is not true! As midwife and Arvigo Therapy practitioner Anne Hirsch states in her case study, women are commonly told by their care providers: There is nothing we can do about that pelvic or low back pain. This is pregnancy. Everything is normal. During pregnancy, the growing expansion of weight at the front of the body: enlarged breasts, growing uterus and expanding hips shifts the moms center of gravity forwards, and her posture changes in an attempt to rebalance her body so that she doesnt fall forward on her nose. The lumbar and thoracic spinal curves exaggerate often resulting in low back, hip, rib pain and leg cramps. As a result, pain during pregnancy is very common, but should not be considered normal as I will discuss below.

Annes client Kyra demonstrates how skeletal misalignment affects inner organs. Uterine ligaments have boney attachments to the hips, sacrum and pubic bone, whenever these structures become unbalanced the results will reflect on the uterus. In Kyras case, as a lawyer she probably had decades of prolonged sitting in poor posture, hauling a heavy briefcase and no doubt has had to wear high heel shoes to keep up with professional appearance standards; a combination of factors that all were likely responsible for her severe discomfort as she started to experience the additional posture distortions caused by pregnancy. Reading her case history convinces me that misalignment of her sacrum, lumbar spine, and both hips all played a role. Anne, a midwife with no previous training in body work, was able to learn these Arvigo Therapy techniques and apply them successfully to bring about such dramatic relief for Kyra.

Dr. Sarah Wylies pregnant client Heather, experiencing so much pain did the right thing by visiting the Emergency Room to rule out any potentially serious causes for her pain, as it is not within the scope of most Arvigo practitioners to diagnose and rule out pregnancy conditions that require medical attention such as tubal pregnancy or ovarian torsion. However, allopathic doctors cannot address common complaints of pregnancy with body work and self-care techniques that, for centuries, have proven to be safe and effective. Scar tissue from Heathers early pelvic surgery caused a life time of compromised uterine ligaments that eventually pulled and tugged her entire body to one side. Once her uterus gained in weight and volume with pregnancy, the extra burden was too much torque for the ligaments and tendons to withstand. I thought Dr. Wylie described the condition beautifully. As a naturopathic physician, she has a very strong grasp of the physiology of post-surgical effects. Antalgic posture refers to someone taking measured steps while anticipating pain. I can see Heather arriving at Dr. Wylies clinic, leaning to one side, afraid to walk, afraid to stand. How relieved she must have been that Dr. Wylie was able to resolve the intensity of the pain after one treatment. As Heathers uterus continued to grow during pregnancy, the pulling on the scar tissue increased so that she needed more expert care for re-alignment of the hips and sacrum and to allow the uterine ligaments to gradually stretch painlessly to accommodate the growing fetus. Most women do not experience severe pain during pregnancy, but Heather needed extra help, which I am pleased to say Dr. Wylie was able to provide.

As their teacher, the case studies of both Anne and Sarah warmed my heart tremendously. The healing journeys of Heather and Kyra made me feel so proud of how our Arvigo Therapy practitioners are helping to educate pregnant women and alleviating their common but unnecessary discomforts of pregnancy. Every woman deserves to have a beautiful experience during her pre-natal months. Our work, a combination of modern bodywork and ancient Maya techniques, may be the only holistic therapy that could have helped these two women.

 

How many times have you heard a pregnant woman say my baby is lying on my right side and my hips and ribs are painful or my baby is so very low and causing me pelvic pain and some urinary incontinence? As the uterus is what is holding and supporting the baby, the baby will lay where the uterus allows it to. If the mom feels the baby is mostly on her right side or low then it is the uterus that is out of balance or mal-positioned and that is why the baby is lying in a sub optimal position causing the mom-to-be discomfort.

Arvigo Therapy is very supportive of the physical changes experienced by women in their pregnancy. As the baby and uterus grow, additional strain is put on the uterine ligaments, pelvic floor muscles and pelvic ligaments. Significant posture deviations and pelvic misalignment indicate a mal-positioned uterus, which can cause a variety of pains and also cause labor and delivery to be longer and more physically stressful than need be. Arvigo Therapy helps normalize and maintain pelvic alignment which guides the uterus into a more neutral position in the abdomen. A well-positioned uterus receives good blood supply and grows strong and resilient. With Arvigo Therapy, the lower back and pelvic bones are kept well-aligned. Each woman is also taught how to do a special self-care massage so that she can continue her therapy at home daily. This Therapy and self-care massage can be empowering for a pregnant woman, allowing her to actively participate and take steps to address her pain and help keep her uterus more balanced, thereby assisting her baby assume optimal fetal positioning. She feels more relaxed and deeply connected to her baby, knowing she has done what she can to physically prepare for a smoother birth.

 

Note: There are currently thousands of Arvigo Practitioners worldwide. Contact the web site for a practitioner near you or workshop near you or peruse the training schedule at www.arvigotherapy.com.