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Webster Technique
About
Webster technique is a specific form of chiropractic care during pregnancy. As your pregnancy progresses, the relaxin hormone is released. This hormone aims to cause the ligaments to soften and stretch. This is what allows your pelvis to spread to create room for the baby's birth. However, your pelvis can also subluxate (loosen) easily.
This technique focuses on the pelvis, sacrum, muscles, and ligaments in and around these areas to support and ease your musculoskeletal and physiological processes. The Webster technique is considered safe for most pregnancies.
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Benefits:
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Ease leg pain
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Ease leg tightness
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Ease back pain
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Ease birth canal issues (narrow space, for example)
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Helps the baby have room to turn ( It is not a baby turning technique, so there is no direct external force applied to the baby. It is also performed gently.)
Dr. Larry Webster, founder of ICPA, Logan practitioner and Life College instructor, developed the Webster Technique in response to his daughter, Lucinda's birth to her daughter, Shannon. Dr. Webster was present at her long and arduous birth and although he adjusted her during the birth, he felt that chiropractic could have a bigger impact in labor with a more specific approach to the pelvis.
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After this personal experience with his daughter’s birth, Dr. Webster strove to develop an adjustment “for laboring women to help with the ease of birth." He felt that there must be a more specific way of addressing subluxations throughout pregnancy that would contribute to safer, easier births for the mother.
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Shortly after, Dr. Webster was caring for a family whose mother was pregnant and also presenting breech. He applied his newly discovered approach in hopes of an easier delivery than his daughter had. He saw her once per week for several weeks and they noticed that her baby turned vertex in time for delivery.
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Dr. Webster began teaching other chiropractors this adjustment. These doctors reported that when their patient's babies were not in an optimal position, these babies were turning vertex as well. Thus the title: “Webster Breech Turning Technique” later to be called the "Webster In-Utero Constraint Technique" by Drs. Anrig and Forrester.
When his daughter, Pamela, was pregnant, he insisted that she get regular chiropractic care throughout pregnancy and mailed her a video of his technique to show her chiropractor. She also showed it to her OB, who was quite interested in the pelvic biomechanics and the chiropractic perspective. He too encouraged her to see her chiropractor regularly for this technique knowing this was out of his obstetric scope.
History
Information gathered from ICPA website icpa4kids.com