Society has deemed extreme period pain as “normal,” causing many women not to seek out treatment to fix it.
Ok, let’s start with the basics…
Many women are taught from a young age that “period pain is a part of life” So, it may come as a shock to you that a true “normal” period should be nearly painless, and with minimal symptoms. All of the side effects we have come to know and dislike are actually symptoms of a disorder known as dysmenorrhea.
Dysmenorrhea is defined as painful cramps that occur with menstruation and is the most common gynecologic problem in women of all ages and races. Medical reports vary wildly between 16% and 81% of the female population reporting this type of pelvic pain, and rates as high as 90% have been recorded. Not a shock, right? Do you know hardly anyone who has perfect, graceful periods? Not really, no.
Symptoms typically begin in early teen years and have become the #1 reason why women call out from work and girls stay home from school. In short, it’s a big problem.
If your tailbone is tilted, your uterus is likely tilted too. This can cause extreme uterine pain and dysfunction.
How balancing the pelvis helps normalize the uterus
You make have read my Mom’s story about how her Endometriosis helped inspire me to become a Women’s Health Chiropractor. After watching her suffer for so long, I entered graduate school looking for an answer to her problem.
In the years the followed, I learned everything I could about the uterine-sacral connection. And you know what? I am amazed by what I’ve discovered.
Over the past 10 years I have repeatedly found a strong correlation between women with tilted tailbones and uterine symptoms. It continues to blow me away that with only minimal adjustment to the sacrum and pelvis, women are consistently getting life-changing relief with their uterine symptoms.
It’s become my life’s work to change the way our culture deals with period pain. Period Pain, or “Dysmennorrhea” is often the early sign for underlying pelvic conditions, such as Endometriosis, PCOS and can lead to Infertility. Sadly, uterine conditions are gravely misunderstood, and both PMS and period pain are considered “a woman’s problem” and something she is cursed to deal with her entire life.
I don’t believe that’s the end of the story, and I’m determined to change the narrative once and for all.
By balancing the pelvic bones, chiropractic naturally relieves ligament pressure on the uterus.
So, how can Chiropractic help my periods?
The uterus is a very tricky creature. It is fed by large blood vessels, massive nerves and is cushioned between a whole slew of other important organs. The pelvic bowl itself is actually designed to have your uterus gracefully (we hope) suspend from your tailbone, or sacrum, and tethered to your pubic bone in front. In an ideal world your sacrum and pubic bones are in perfect alignment, all the ligaments connecting to your uterus are happy-go-lucky and your periods are pain-free. But this is not the case for many of us. So why is that?
When we are toddlers, our bones are very soft and pliable. So, every little bump or fall we take when learning to walk, falling off the swings or slide and playing sports can affect the shape of our growing bones. In the pelvis we are especially sensitive as every fall on our butts causes our tailbones to rotate and changes the sensitive nature of the ligaments supporting our uterus.
By the time we are 10 years old it is estimated we have fallen on our butts over 1,000 times. You can only imagine how beat up our pelvic ligaments are by the time we reach our first our periods! No wonder we are all so out of whack and dreading our times of the month. Falls, however, are not the only ways we damage our pelvic alignment.
Posture also plays a huge part in uterine alignment, with poor shoe choices playing a major role.
Our habits and choices make a huge difference
In addition to falls, our postures and fixed positions (think looking down at your phone for long sessions on facebook or sitting with your legs crossed at a boring meeting) affect the way our bones and muscles relate to one another. Have you ever had your Mother tell you, “Don’t make that face, you’ll stay that way.” Well, science now understands that our bodies really do remember posture patterns.
The same body phenomenon which allows us to remember how to ride a bike also recalls the way we prefer to sit, to stand, to lean and to sleep. In the case of high heeled shoes, the ligaments in our ankles actually shrink after prolonged use, leading to discomfort when wearing flats or flip flops.
Just as the heeled shoes create a shortness in our ankles, they also create a tilt to our tailbones. This causes distinct pressure on the ligaments connecting to the uterus, and can even cause a physically “tilted uterus.” If you have ever been told by your Ob/Gyn that your uterus is shifted, or if they’ve needed to work hard to get a speculum in during a pelvic exam, pelvic misalignment could be the cause.
When the brain and body mix messages, the result can be devastating. Endometriosis is one such condition.
Balancing the pelvic bones releases built up pressure
By balancing the pelvic bones, the uterine ligaments are naturally supported and stress is relieved. This can lead to reduced cramping, ease of menstrual flow and even a reduction in emotional PMS symptoms.
So many uterine conditions can be aided by naturally balancing the pelvic joints, with period pain only being one of the more common scenarios affecting women today. As the brain sends messages via the spinal nerves to the pelvic area, any areas of asymmetry can prevent important information from returning back from the uterus, resulting in mixed messages.
Endometriosis is a result of the body being confused about where to lay down more uterine tissue. Each month, a woman’s body releases hormones telling uterine tissue where to grow (specifically inside of the uterus) and when to release menstrual blood. In the case of Endo, the brain and body have mixed up the messages so badly, the body begins to built excess uterine tissue in the wrong places- namely outside of the uterus. It can attach itself to the walls of other organs, to muscles, ligaments and more.
Each time the hormone levels indicate it’s time to bleed, ALL uterine tissue begins to bleed at once, causing massive hemorrhaging, depending on how many extra places the body has created “uterine satellites” in addition to the uterus itself. By restoring correct brain-body communication, the body can realize it’s mistake and keep the uterine tissue where it belongs- inside the uterus, and nowhere else.
Chiropractic care designed for Women
The specific style of chiropractic care that Dr. Amanda practices is focused on balancing your pelvic angle, releasing the pressure on uterine ligaments and allowing blood flow to normalize in the uterus. In the vast majority of cases her clients notice a significant reduction in period symptoms, greatly improving their quality of life.
If you’re interested in learning more about how Chiropractic care can help with uterine conditions, feel free to reach out at amanda@boulderwomenschiro.com or by clicking the button below to schedule a session.