Fourth Trimester Podcast Episode 76: How Perinatal Chiropractics Can Help With Recovery After Birth – Adrian Villalba
We had the pleasure of speaking with Adrian Villalba about perinatal chiropractic practices that benefit mothers. Having balance in your body both before and after giving birth can benefit new mamas in their recovery process. Adrian is certified in Webster Technique by the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association. As always, consult with your medical care provider to find out if perinatal chiropractics is a good solution for you.
What is Perinatal Chiropractic Care?
Perinatal refers to the time before and after having a baby. Perinatal Chiropractics refers to a practice focused on helping women (Pre, during and post pregnancy) with their chiropractic needs, often with the objectives of supporting a viable and healthy pregnancy, easing discomforts and pains, encouraging a productive and smooth labor.
Bodywork before and after pregnancy
This episode of the Fourth Trimester podcast features Adrian Villalba, a perinatal Chiropractor, discussing perinatal chiropractic, what it entails and why it’s beneficial during the postpartum period. He emphasizes that Mom has to fill her own cup before being able to feed baby, just like at the airport, one has to put their own mask on first.
Adrian suggests that having therapeutic bodywork and support during the first few days of postpartum can be particularly beneficial to new moms. In this podcast, Sarah Trott and Adrian also discussed the benefits of postpartum bodywork, citing how postpartum bodywork can help a new mother navigate through the changes taking place as they adjust to motherhood and relieve some of the physical changes of having a baby.
They also discussed how physical therapy can help both expecting and new fathers, and the importance of rest and recovery for postpartum mothers. Adrian encourages new moms to be aware of their bodies and make sure they’re doing whatever they need to stay healthy, including pelvic floor physical therapy, yoga, chiropractic care, massage, and acupuncture.
He also explained the ideal timing of bodywork, which should generally start 6-8 weeks postpartum depending on the individual. He stressed that a holistic approach to postpartum care is key, as emotional and immune support is just as important as physical rehabilitation. Additionally, Adrian suggested that women should prioritize their own healing, self-care and emotional wellbeing in order to better fill their own cup and better nurture their little ones.
About Adrian Villaba, Perinatal Chiropractor
Here’s a bit more about Adrian:
“Adrian Villalba graduated from Life Chiropractic College West in 2017 as the salutatorian of his class, with clinical honors. He facilitates healing and promotes health with people of all walks of life.
Adrian is particularly passionate about working with pregnant mothers and new moms to ensure that they have a healthy and peaceful process through birth and into motherhood. Adrian works relentlessly to provide them with an opportunity along with tools, strategies and a holistic perspective that helps them become empowered by their experience and gain clarity in times of transition. Adrian is certified in Webster Technique by the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association.
Before his journey into the Chiropractic field, Adrian worked as part of the trail crew for the National Park Service at Golden Gate National Recreation Area for eight years. He is very proud of his work in places such as Muir Woods, Alcatraz and the Marin Headlands. While serving as part of the Health and Safety committee, Adrian began teaching ergonomic and functional movement classes helping people avoid injury whether they are actively working or sitting behind a desk all day. These classes are still in high demand by multiple parks and are available for your office staff.
Adrian is an active “hobbiest” and enjoys rock climbing, playing basketball, cycling and running on a weekly basis with his (EXPECTING!) wife Lena. He maintains his active lifestyle with Foundation Training. He is a certified Foundation Training instructor and is excited to inspire people to move well and move often. He is also in the process of becoming a certified Chiropractic Extremeties Practitioner. This involves over 100 hours of post doctorate education focusing on everything from shoulders to fingers, hips to toes as well as soft tissue issues. Adrian’s work can help take athletes to the next level in their desired sport.
Adrian has had the opportunity to join a team of doctors on service trips delivering chiropractic care to those who have limited access. Adrian travelled to serve the beautiful people of Jamaica in 2015 and New Delhi, India in 2016. He also volunteered his services throughout his time in chiropractic college in his own community through Mission Trip America in the mission district at San Francisco Day Laborer Program and Women’s Collective.
Whether you are an expecting mother, office professional or athletically inclined, he looks forward to serving you and your families reach your health goals through gentle and specific Chiropractic care.”
Selected links
Connect with Adrian Villalba Make An Appointment | YouTube
Learn more The Benefits Of Movement Therapy For You And Your Baby | Healing Birth Trauma
Connect with Fourth Trimester Facebook | Instagram | About & Contact
Episode Transcript
Esther Gallagher: [00:00:42] Hi again, listeners. It’s Esther today. Sarah can’t join us. Sadly, she’s such a busy working mom now. But I do have my wonderful guest, Adrian Villalba.
Esther Gallagher: [00:00:57] And he’s going to talk with us today about perinatal chiropractic. But I want it to remind you all that in addition to this podcast, which you can subscribe to and think about possibly supporting us with donations, we also have our Facebook page and our website fourthtrimesterpodcast.com, and there’s a lot of great stuff on that page and on the Facebook page as well. It’s an opportunity to share stuff, so please check us out on those other two platforms if you get a chance.
Esther Gallagher: [00:01:35] I learned of Adrian and his practice years ago, handful of years ago, and he has come to our Doula Group to talk about the form of what I like to categorize under body work, really healing modalities, along with our guest, Leah Keller, who’s also a physical therapist who works with core and pelvic floor fitness. So his work is very much integrated, integrated into the perinatal health and healing that we like to feature on our podcast whenever we get a chance. So I want to first say happy birthday to you. Thank you. I’m so excited that this is the day you chose to be on our planet.
Adrian Villalba: [00:02:30] What a birthday gift.
Esther Gallagher: [00:02:31] Yeah, I’m happy to have you be here. And why don’t you launch in Adrian and tell us a little bit about yourself and what kind of brought you to being a perinatal chiropractor?
Adrian Villalba: [00:02:48] Great. Thank you. My name is Adrian. I started down this journey from my own health reasons, just like most people do. And I used to work for the National Park Service, and at that time, I thought I was invincible. And then some health stuff came along and it really drove me to try to understand why I had gotten to a certain place or a certain position and then overall be able to help people never get in that spot or get out of it.
Adrian Villalba: [00:03:19] And so I started my chiropractic journey going through school, and then at the end of that school we have a clinical period. So the second half of school we’re seeing students and patients and being a male, being very active dude, I always thought, Oh, I’m going to be a sports chiropractor. But one of my first patients that I started to see was just going in for wellness, and ended up becoming pregnant. And then I saw her through her whole pregnancy and then gave birth and then her few months of her postpartum period.
And that experience actually ended up being the one that gave back the most, the one I was most fulfilled with, the one that really sparked a curiosity and an interest and the passion of like, wow, this is how I want to spend my life as a person. I have always wanted to be a father. I thought that this period in life has is just I mean, what else screams vitality more than this time period. And so being able to contribute to families as well, being and journey along this path in a positive way has always been something in the back of my mind that I feel like has guided me to where I am now.
Esther Gallagher: [00:04:34] That’s a great story. And I will say, right, and I’m sure you’ve experienced this many times in your practice when things aren’t going along a real wellness path, it’s so distressing for the people involved. And so whenever we can contribute to the whole person’s well-being, everything affects everything. Yeah. You know, when it’s hard not to become depressed if your body is making it really, really unpleasant, right. For you to get through what you’re getting through.
Adrian Villalba: [00:05:13] So as you know, when all you can focus on is pain, you can’t focus on whatever else is going on. And pregnant and new mamas there just got so much going on that if they’re focused on their pain, then the quality of the rest of their life has to take some hits. And so in order for you to be 100% focused on baby or 100% focus on your career, whatever that might be, your relationships, those all tend to suffer if you are just focused on your body the whole time. Right.
And so that’s really where I feel like I can make a big difference – where if Mom’s not focused on her pain, then she can focus on baby or she can focus on her relationships. And she’s just deeply connected with what’s going on and not having to get distracted.
Esther Gallagher: [00:05:54] Yeah. And it is such a thoroughly and deep physiological period of continual shifting. Yes. From one state to the next to the next to the next.
Adrian Villalba: [00:06:08] And just once you got it. Yeah.
Esther Gallagher: [00:06:11] It’s exactly right. And just to have support and nurturing of any sort as you ride those tidal waves of change in the perinatal period. And so when we’re speaking about the perinatal period, as some of you, I’m no doubt. No, we’re talking about conception through weaning. Yes, right. Essentially from a physiological standpoint.
It kind of involves the body as it moves through all those states. And really weaning, however it happens when it happens, we kind of feel like to whatever extent the mom is now kind of back in her body as her own.
Adrian Villalba: [00:07:02] Yeah, a little bit more independent.
Esther Gallagher: [00:07:04] Yes. And not disconnected, of course, as social emotional. Yeah. Continues. And of course if your baby’s weaned and your body’s out of whack, that’s it’s not like you’re not still in a perinatal crisis potentially. So it’s all important. But that’s kind of the framework of the perinatal period for us, our purposes.
Esther Gallagher: [00:07:30] So let’s dive in and really talk about what you do. Yeah, I’m so thrilled that your curiosity led you in this direction, as I think is very much the case for most of us who work in this realm. You have to be like a little extra added, curious about it and not take it for granted.
Adrian Villalba: [00:07:49] Yeah.
Esther Gallagher: [00:07:50] And as we were talking about before starting the recording, I’m just very interested in sort of the where, when and why. Yeah, of all of this. And so you tell us.
Adrian Villalba: [00:08:03] Yeah. So during school, our focus is mainly the spine and the head, the body, the nerves, that kind of thing. And our main job in life as human beings is to heal. That’s what our body does. And as a chiropractor, I’m constantly looking to facilitate that process. And if there’s ever anything in the way of that, that’s what we call a subluxation. And so we’re trying to get rid of those things. And those things can come up in forms of tension or just kind of the different distribution of patterns in your body.
Adrian Villalba: [00:08:36] And so when you’re pregnant, then you have a whole other set of jobs. That’s the only time you have another set of job or another job. And so to be able to then connect the two nervous systems in your body now and to facilitate the healing and the growing of a baby, takes on a different form. So there is extra training that I’ve done.
Adrian Villalba: [00:08:58] I’m certified by the CPA, which is the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, and you can find their stuff on I CPA for kids dot com the number for kids dot com and there’s a good directory for anybody that has gone through that program and they do extensive teachings on how to be clear and safe with a baby.
Adrian Villalba: [00:09:20] And then I’m also Webster certified, which is what most mamas end up coming in for during their pregnancy. And they try and get away from the idea that we turn babies because that’s practicing obstetrics. There we go. That word. Yeah.
Adrian Villalba: [00:09:37] But really what we’re doing is, again, trying to facilitate the healing and the growing process, bouncing out the pelvis. And when you do that, bounce out all the ligaments that hold the uterus to the pelvis. Then baby has the best ability and the most amount of room to put him or herself in the right position for a natural birth. And it’s just facilitate whatever baby needs.
Adrian Villalba: [00:09:58] And so then for postpartum, we again start with the healing process and try to facilitate that. And that’s the period where you really need the most amount of support, in my opinion. So there’s this weird philosophy, but the perspective I think that I’ve seen is that when you see a big, big belly it’s this, oh my gosh, let me let me give you some flowers like this is amazing.
Esther Gallagher: [00:10:23] Let’s be really nice to that.
Adrian Villalba: [00:10:24] But it’s really necessary and rightfully so, when in reality, I think at that time, mom is feeling so powerful and so amazing and feeling great. Of course, probably a little uncomfortable, but for the most part, really strong. And then once Baby’s born, everyone’s focused on baby and forgets about mother. But mom seems to be in the back seat.
Adrian Villalba: [00:10:51] And even to moms, moms are focused on baby. And so I know that the best thing for baby is to make sure that mom is well, Mom has to fill her own cup before she’s able to feed baby. Just like at the airport. You have to put your own mask on first. Yeah.
Esther Gallagher: [00:11:05] And so and moms are, as I’ve said many times on the podcast, you are in a more vulnerable state in the fourth trimester than you might be or normally would be during pregnancy. In most cases you’re just healing and recovering.
Adrian Villalba: [00:11:25] And so for me, I’m constantly trying to communicate to my mamas who come pre that the work that we’re going to do post birth is is almost more important because now you really need to heal to the best of your abilities and regardless of how baby’s birth, there’s going to be some tissue damage. To what extent is yet to be seen, but your body’s ability to heal will be facilitated by making sure that your nervous system is clear, that the patterns of tension are distributed throughout your body so that not one tissue is over overload it specifically the pelvic floor, and then all the the deep core that’s intricately connected to that.
Adrian Villalba: [00:12:06] So the pelvic floor is just one grouping of muscles that is connected through muscles that go all the way down to your foot and all the way up to your head. And so if we can start work before you actually give birth to be able to connect the full line, then you’re going to be decreasing the load immediately. If we can balance your hips forward and back, left and right, up and down, then you’re going to be putting less load on your body in general, if you start to be able to be a little bit more sensitive as to where you’re having some discomfort or not discomfort, but dysfunction in those tension lines, then you’re going to be better equipped postpartum to to start the healing process and distribute those loads.
Adrian Villalba: [00:12:53] So that the brass tacks of what I do is that I make Mama feel very comfortable afterwards. I create a space where she’s heard as number one and she feels connected and then start to help balance out the ligaments, the joints, the muscles, everything that was around the pelvis as well as the rest of the spine. We are very holistic practice or approach, and so we make sure that your body is firing at all cylinders, that your body is being able to tell your brain what’s happening, just like air conditioning.
It’s really easy to liken that to you need to have a thermostat to know what temperature the room is at, so know whether to have more ac or more heat. And so the body works the same. The body needs to be able to tell exactly what’s going on, to be able to say like, Oh, I need more acid in my stomach or I need a little bit more oxygen into my blood. And so that kind of feedback loop is constantly happening and contributes tremendously to your healing. So the better connected you are to your body, the better you’re going to heal, the less you’re going to be focused on your body, the more you can connect with your baby, which is, I think, ultimately what moms really want.
Esther Gallagher: [00:14:03] Right? Absolutely. And I mean, we all just naturally in a very, very basic natural way, want to be well and functioning, right? Yeah. Whatever our motivation in into the world inside of us, we want and perhaps need to be attached to a physical body that’s as well as it can be.
Esther Gallagher: [00:14:31] And we tend to I think so often, I think particularly caregivers are prone to this. Once you say we tend to kind of forgo that. Yes. In lieu of like what’s out there that needs my attention. Right. Regardless of how I feel, regardless of how I’m doing. So naturally, to whatever extent new moms are in this place where they’re compelled, right, deeply, deeply compelled to care for their babies, whether or not they’re feeling it. Right.
And so it can be a real, let’s just say, conflict of interest in those first three months. And it is so naturally I mean, I don’t this is not a social emotional judgment statement. It’s normal and natural to feel conflicted between, oh, if I could just sleep for 5 hours straight, I would feel so much better. And that’s true. That’s right. It is true. Right. And oh, the baby’s stirring and they’re going to want to eat and it’s going to hurt a little.
Esther Gallagher: [00:15:40] And how do I put all that together. I’m so not wanting to do this right now. And yet you do it right. You do it again and again and again. And and I think it’s important to acknowledge that in that very compelled state, there still is room to make good choices on your own behalf to to eat as well as possible, to sleep on your baby, sleep, whenever that is, to surround yourself with appropriate social emotional feedback, meaning people who can be appropriate in your space and to look to your healing and recovery. Not in that order necessarily, but certainly I think of those things as co-equal. They’re all part equally of the healing and recovery that moms are going to do now.
Esther Gallagher: [00:16:32] Every mom is going to have her specific personal healing and recovery journey. But it sure helps to know what resources are out there.
Esther Gallagher: [00:16:42] So, Adrian, why don’t you tell us a little bit about when would you be coming to see a new mom, like in terms of her healing?
Adrian Villalba: [00:16:54] When is for the postpartum period, depending on when they need it. And that’s different for every mom. Okay. So when mamas come in and we have different care plans and packages, whenever they sign up for something like that, we do a complimentary home visit. And then for other moms that just need some support. We just do a home visit.
And so depending on how the birth went will differ on how mama might be feeling. And so we will do a home visit whenever you want. Even if you’re not pregnant, we’ll still come because that’s the need. And so we find that mamas tend to ask for postpartum help if they’ve had a more traumatic birth or a birth that didn’t quite go as planned.
Adrian Villalba: [00:17:40] But then, let’s say, for instance, last week I had a mama that was totally well and she just had this in her back pocket, which is part of why I do it, so that she just she knows it’s there and she just like, Oh, I feel like having a little self love. And so bring it, bring them on in. Yeah. And so other like pain points that I, that I usually hear, breastfeeding is usually the biggest one. So as you know, the letdown reflex is a reflex. And so that deals With your nervous system.
Adrian Villalba: [00:18:09] So by helping the thoracic cage be mobile, be be open and be responding? Well, that actually helps with that. And then also in our home visits, we complimentary check the baby as well. So babies get chiropractic care as soon as they’re out if parents so choose like my son was 2 hours when he got his first chiropractic adjustment. And so that can oftentimes help with latching, which is huge. That was my wife’s biggest hurdle or challenge postpartum and so very empathetic on that one. I know it very intimately.
Adrian Villalba: [00:18:50] And then other things, just pelvic pain. If mother did have to birth via cesarean, there’s a lot of tissues there that need some help in some other joints around the pelvis can help ease the tissues around the front half because there’s no joint right here right below your belly where the incision happens. But everything around that, the tissues are now conform to a new position and so that can use some help.
Esther Gallagher: [00:19:18] Well, and let me just say, having doula-ed my clients through C-sections on those occasions you’re usually under anesthesia from your ribcage down. Yeah. You don’t feel much. And your body is being manipulated from place to place carefully, hopefully, but not always as careful as your body might require. And so your body will have been through a lot before, during and after your actual cesarean birth.
And you know, where you get to sleep and how you get to sleep and how you’re holding your body isn’t normal, right? It’s not. There’s going to be a lot of tension in that body and just because and so it does make sense. And I was very curious to ask you about cesarean section because of course, then after giving birth is by cesarean, moms feel very limited in how they can move and where they’re comfortable. You know, they can’t line their sides often because of the way the incision pain affects them. Lying on their back is probably comfortable. Standing is probably comfortable to an extent. But it’s very interesting to me. Like how? Because I imagine it would be really good for the healing of the lower body.
Adrian Villalba: [00:20:48] Yeah. And to your point no matter what type of birth you have, there’s going to be tissues that take some damage and your pelvis is going to open. That’s the beauty of it. But the joints get pushed a little bit beyond their normal ranges. And so to come back from that is not always going to be perfectly symmetrical, perfectly balanced and with a big trauma like that, you constantly get inflammation.
Adrian Villalba: [00:21:16] As you know, the postpartum period, there’s lots of inflammation happening. And when that doesn’t get circulated out like fully it does, it can leave some residue and that just makes joints a little sticky. We call it just the sticky joints. And so making sure that the joints are moving well is our number one kind of tool. And then we look at the soft tissues.
Adrian Villalba: [00:21:37] And one of the things that I like about our office is that we are not scared to cross refer. We in fact enjoy it very much. It helps with our community. We are able to tout the fact that we have many people that know us and that and also that we trust to send to them.
Adrian Villalba: [00:21:58] So if there’s something in the tissues that I can’t deal with, then I’ll know who to call. I’ll know who to get the help to if I feel that they just need someone there to watch other things while they sleep, then I know who to call. If they need some more help with latching and lactation, I know who to call. And so it’s not just I’m going to be your everything. We’ll know where you might use a little bit more support and who to send you to.
Esther Gallagher: [00:22:25] So we and the Doula World always really appreciate that because it’s the truth of the matter. I think more resources are necessary, not less. And imagining that there’s just one person who can do everything for you is always a mistake in life, and particularly a mistake in the postpartum period. And that doesn’t mean you need a crowd around you.
Esther Gallagher: [00:22:49] And again, I want to really appreciate you, Adrian, for being the home visiting chiropractor. I don’t know how many chiropractors do that, but it’s new to me. Yeah, like you’re the first I’ve ever heard of. And I say to my new moms, like, you’re not leaving the house. It’s not good for you, right? Right. Getting in and out of the car to go to the pediatrician visit isn’t a good design. They should be coming to you.
Esther Gallagher: [00:23:18] And there are those who will find those. Right. You know, getting in and out of the car to go to an obstetric follow up visit when you’re not yet healed and recovered. Not a good idea. Yeah. Right now stress on you and it puts more stress on you. It seems like it’s a way to get care, but let’s really weigh and balance the kind of care you need right now. You need to be able to rest and recover. And how are you going to do that if you’re sitting in an office waiting for somebody to see you? So and I’m kind of particular about these things, but I’m also in a position to see how moms are doing.
Esther Gallagher: [00:23:57] And help them make a good decision. And because I’m there in the first Two weeks, boots on the floor or whatever.
Esther Gallagher: [00:24:03] Yeah. And so otherwise they wouldn’t know. You would just say, Oh, yeah, I guess I have to go because I’ve been told.
Adrian Villalba: [00:24:13] And on the flip side, I do want to mention that it’s not that I don’t want mamas to move. There are a lot of things that you can do at home that are the word exercise. I feel like is is a little extreme. But movement and breathing, there’s a way to encourage your body to or support your body in the healing process where movement is involved.
And so hopefully none of those words trigger you to be like, no, I’m not going to do it, but there are things that you can do for yourself. And we teach that to our moms before. And then we have videos that help mom afterwards.
Esther Gallagher: [00:24:50] As well, which is awesome because after all, once, I mean, once she’s given birth, she still has to eat and get up to pee and poop and sit in different positions to breastfeed or lie down to breastfeed. And all of those things are having an effect. So how you get out of bed, how you get to the bathroom, how you walk around the apartment to feel your body in motion and help it circulate.
Adrian Villalba: [00:25:18] How you carry baby.
Esther Gallagher: [00:25:19] How you hold baby, take baby back from the crib. Yes. Oh, my gosh.
Adrian Villalba: [00:25:23] You hold a car seat.
Esther Gallagher: [00:25:24] Oh, let’s not you know, I mean, I’m like the one who says don’t carry that car seat with a baby in it. Carry the baby.
Adrian Villalba: [00:25:32] I think you have your partner’s there.
Esther Gallagher: [00:25:33] Yeah, right, exactly. Got to have a way to carry the baby to and from and leave the car seat in the car. Yeah. As far as I’m concerned, things shouldn’t move with a baby in it, except if it’s in a car. But that’s my opinion. And I think learning how to do these things appropriately if and when you’re going to be doing them is so important.
Adrian Villalba: [00:25:55] Lifting and twisting is the way most people throw themselves out of whack. That’s how it happens. Very true most of the time. And that’s exactly what the car seat manufacturers are asking you to do. Lift a thing and then twist to get it out of the car. Don’t do that.
Adrian Villalba: [00:26:11] I have a lot of little, little snippets on my Instagram page, and we have videos at our office regarding if you have to carry the car seat, because a lot of people do. How to do it to the best of your ability. And on that note, like how to move as a parent. So I have this series called Mama Movement, which is for dads, too, but it’s a designed movement patterning of picking stuff up from the floor, like I was saying, picking the baby up from the floor or putting him or her down in the crib.
The highchair is a big one if you’re later in the postpartum time, because my baby right now is almost 20 pounds now, and that’s a big wiggling kettlebell. Even if I’m not in my gym clothes, I still have to remember that this is a weight that is putting stress and forces into my body. So if I can act with proper form and that becomes second nature when I don’t have to think about it, then my body can get stronger from these movements versus getting broken down. And so you see a lot of mamas and dads hold the baby out with the hips are all out of whack. I did it back. Yeah, I did it.
Esther Gallagher: [00:27:25] For a minimum of six years of my life doing babies.
Adrian Villalba: [00:27:29] Yeah. And then now you’re a postpartum doula, so you’re still around babies all the time. And so the way in which you hold yourself is going to be very important. And so for parents that have never done it before, there is this whole you got it’s natural. Is this fine? And it doesn’t hurt right now?
Esther Gallagher: [00:27:47] Well, let me just tell you, folks, someday you’re going to be my age. I’m about to be 60. Yeah, it does. It will make it come back. Yes. It Comes back to haunt you.
Adrian Villalba: [00:27:59] There are a few things that you can do that will help you stay a little bit safer and in the end be able to do the things that you want to do for longer.
Esther Gallagher: [00:28:08] And let me just say I had my first at 18, I was in a different body than most of my clients who are pushing 40 or more when they’re having their first kids. So all the more reason why we really, really need to be well informed and in a good practice of body awareness.
Adrian Villalba: [00:28:36] Totally. And you hit it earlier on the head. I was going to say our four pillars in our office where we taught is to be able to eat, move, think and recuperate better. Those are the four pillars of health, in our opinion, and in most big philosophies. And so if we can support those four things in general, you’re going to be increasing your resilience to stress.
And that’s our big thing. We’d like it to be our big tagline because we’re not going to de-stress your life, especially as a new parent. As soon as baby goes to bed, you might have a pause for a minute or two, but baby gets back up, baby starts to scream and the stress goes right back up. So if we can just increase your resilience to that stress where your threshold isn’t quite so low and little stresses in life as they come, they don’t cross that threshold. Then you’re going to be experiencing less symptoms, pain, diseases, whatever that might be.
Esther Gallagher: [00:29:29] And potentially more joy, which is nice.
Adrian Villalba: [00:29:32] So yeah, like it’s all features, right? We do this, we do that, but the benefits of not crossing that threshold are unquantifiable. The connection with your baby, that your ability to just let things roll off your shoulders when they could be annoying at some point, they could also be funny. You can laugh a little bit more. You can connect and then be more creative in the way that you respond.
Esther Gallagher: [00:29:57] And your brain can release more oxytocin.
Adrian Villalba: [00:30:00] Exactly. Which I’d like some more.
Esther Gallagher: [00:30:02] Powerful stuff
Adrian Villalba: [00:30:03] Exactly. Yeah. So our ability to increase the resilience to stress comes from those four pillars, like you were saying, and you can just do little tiny things to increase those things. Like you said, making better decisions, small decisions in the end is life changing.
Esther Gallagher: [00:30:21] Yeah. So we’re going to wrap up here pretty soon. And I feel like we talked about the three big questions and more, but I want to circle back to the when a little bit and talk a little more about that because on the one hand, if new moms having just given birth sometime in the first 24 hours can get a nice adjustment and or a massage. Wouldn’t that be great?
Adrian Villalba: [00:30:52] It’d be fantastic.
Esther Gallagher: [00:30:53] Wouldn’t that be fantastic? But I will also say from both the mother and the doula experience and perspective, most of us just don’t want somebody showing up who isn’t part of the family, so to speak. Often, if we’re if we’ve delivered in the hospital, which far too many people do. Yes, in my opinion, sure. But in any case, there’s just too much going on around as it is. Right. Doesn’t mean that the best thing to happen would be your visit from the chiropractor. But then on day three, there’s this big hormonal shift.
Most moms are feeling their vulnerability has kind of really hit them on day three. The endorphins have worn off. Breastfeeding is starting to hit harder. You know, the recognition of what it all is about and what you’re experiencing with it. And that’s also if you’ve delivered in the hospital, that’s the day they push you out of the nest and send you off. And it’s quite disruptive. So given that sort of first three days trajectory and sometimes it’s four and five, if you’ve had a C-section and then you’re home and there’s some relief in that. But then there’s also the existential crisis of, oh my God, here we are with a baby all alone.
Adrian Villalba: [00:32:18] I remember it very well.
Esther Gallagher: [00:32:19] Yes, of course you do. Like, if you just couldn’t have integrated it between day one and day seven, the day seven might be the point at which you could imagine like, Och, my body’s starting to settle into whatever it is. But I don’t want to go off the rails. And it would be good to have some therapeutic body work. Sure. What do you think of sort of like that as a number? It’s you know, it’s arbitrary.
Adrian Villalba: [00:33:00] So far, obviously, with my wife, I was able to be there hours afterwards. And with my business partner’s wife as well. The big thing for me is listening and making sure that mom feels comfortable with me. I’m a man. And so sometimes that could be an issue.
Esther Gallagher: [00:33:22] Yeah. I usually get out her jammies.
Adrian Villalba: [00:33:25] Exactly. And that’s why it has helped having a previous relationship with me. So most clients, the earlier that I see in postpartum, have been clients that have already seen me before. Mm hmm. But it’s usually, like you mentioned, around seven to 14 days. It’s in that second week. But it can be just whenever you’re ready and the earlier for me, ideally the better.
But I don’t want my visit to stress you out more than the benefits that you get. That’s the ultimate balancing point. I think what I’m going to provide is definitely going to be a good thing for you. The only thing I can guarantee is that people are going to be healing better after I see them. But again, there’s so much going on. You’re acutely aware of Baby in those first couple of days and that’s where your focus is.
So if if someone coming over to your house is stressing you out more than the benefits, then I say let’s give it a couple of days, but ideally the first two weeks, just to make sure that when you’re healing and you’re you’re coming back into your own body, that it’s balanced, that it’s straight, that everything is distributed, the tensions are distributed throughout as many tissues as possible so as to not overload one particular spot. But then, then it’s really up to you. And then after that you start to feel better and then you’ll be able to decide when you want your next visit. But usually within the first two weeks is ideal, but whenever it’s comfortable.
Esther Gallagher: [00:34:52] Yeah, yeah. Well, certainly looking back, I could have done with on my own behalf any kind of body work. It’s the thing that I didn’t get postpartum and didn’t feel I could afford, didn’t know it was available necessarily. Right. You know, and I think just helping all of that tissue come back into a relationship with itself is a big thing and would have been immensely helpful to me.
And I had easy births. You know, it wasn’t because I had these difficult births that tore me apart. No, it wasn’t that at all. It was now I was doing the work of being a mother. Yeah. And it’s hard work when the baby is on the outside. You know, living in sort of suboptimal conditions on every level.
Adrian Villalba: [00:35:45] Just because they’re easy births doesn’t mean that it wasn’t the most.
Esther Gallagher: [00:35:48] I was still postpartum. Exactly. They’re all the way in.
Adrian Villalba: [00:35:51] Birth is the most physical and emotional event of your life. And so you’re going to have traumas from that. And the word trauma might be extreme for some people, but just the physiological sense of tissues will be stretched beyond their capacity for a bit. And so you will be healing. And that’s your main job. And so it’s easier.
Esther Gallagher: [00:36:13] And you’re healing while having to do the hard work.
Adrian Villalba: [00:36:15] Yes.
Esther Gallagher: [00:36:16] It’s you know, and that’s not especially repeated again and again and again. Right. Like, let’s not forget that you don’t get to just say, I’ve been lucky with my back injury. I can just lay around my apartment if I want to. Yeah, I don’t. Yeah, but I. I’m aware of the need to rest and recover and there’s nothing impeding that currently. So that’s not the case when you’re postpartum. Right. Right. So it’s all the more reason to bring in those modalities that are going to really serve your recovery, whatever you know, those to be.
Adrian, this has been lovely. Yes. Thanks so much for stopping by my apartment and talking to us about all this great stuff. Yeah. And we will post notes and on the website about your visit and of course your recording. You’re going to probably find ways to put it out into the world. Yeah, of course. Which is wonderful. And we may. Have occasion to want to have you back.
Adrian Villalba: [00:37:26] Yeah, thanks.
Esther Gallagher: [00:37:27] I’d love to come back. Maybe we’ll talk about chiropractic for Dad’s next time. Yes, yes.
Adrian Villalba: [00:37:31] Be good. Yeah. We are often overlooked.
Esther Gallagher: [00:37:34] Yes, absolutely. I agree. Okay. Well, everybody, it was wonderful recording on your behalf today. Circle around and look at our other platforms. And if you can help support us, that would be well received. And I hope you have a great, great day and are getting healthy and happy and enjoying life. Take care.
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