Chiropractic Delivered to Pregnant Mothers is Safe for Their Fetuses

The Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health Chiropractic published the results of a study on October 18, 2022, documenting that chiropractic care did not have any adverse effect on the fetal heart rate when chiropractic care was administered to their pregnant mothers. The title of the study is "Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring of 33 Pregnant Women Undergoing Chiropractic & Midwifery Care."

John Hopkins Medicine describes Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring by stating "Fetal heart rate monitoring measures the heart rate and rhythm of your baby (fetus). This lets your healthcare provider see how your baby is doing. Your healthcare provider may do fetal heart monitoring during late pregnancy and labor. The average fetal heart rate is between 110 and 160 beats per minute. It can vary by 5 to 25 beats per minute. The fetal heart rate may change as your baby responds to conditions in your uterus. An abnormal fetal heart rate may mean that your baby is not getting enough oxygen or that there are other problems."

The purpose of this study was to see if chiropractic care had a negative impact on the fetus by measuring the fetal heart rate. If chiropractic were having a negative effect, the results should be picked up in an abnormal fetal heart rate.

In this study, 33 women met the criteria for inclusion in this study. The criteria for inclusion was, (1) the woman underwent a complete history and physical examination with their respective provider, (2) the patient attended consistent and continuous care with both a midwife and chiropractor, (3) the patient provided consent for the review of both the chiropractic and midwifery patient records, and (4) fetal heart rate monitoring was performed and recorded. The records from these women were reviewed and correlated to give a full picture of their chiropractic care and any effect on the women’s fetuses.

The results showed the average age of the women in this study was just over 30 years. These women averaged almost 20 chiropractic visits during their pregnancy in addition to over 11 prenatal visits. In all, there were a total of 216 fetal heart rate monitoring recordings performed with about 99% of them occurring after the woman’s chiropractic visit.

The results showed no adverse effects to the fetal heart rate of any of the fetuses. This showed that chiropractic care did not have a negative impact on this major fetal health measure. In addition, all pregnant women delivered healthy babies without any complications.

In their discussion, the study authors commented, "The safety of the chiropractic care of pregnant women and the unborn fetus is a concern not only among chiropractors19 but also by other healthcare providers involved in prenatal care." They concluded, "The use of spinal/pelvic chiropractic adjustments during pregnancy did not result in adverse events for the fetus as measured by FHR, a major indicator of fetal health in obstetric care."