Your Changing Body, Your Shifting Nervous System: Gentle Chiropractic Support for Pregnancy in Pleasant Hill
You're seven months pregnant and can't remember the last time you slept through the night. Not just because of the baby moving or the constant trips to the bathroom, but because your body won't settle. Your lower back aches. Your hips feel unstable. And underneath it all, there's this constant hum of tension you can't quite release.
Your midwife says it's normal. Your friends say it's just part of pregnancy. And maybe it is.
But normal doesn't mean it's the only option.
What most people don't realize is that pregnancy doesn't just change your body structurally. It fundamentally reorganizes your nervous system. The way your body processes sensation, manages stress, and coordinates movement all shifts to accommodate the life growing inside you.
When we talk about chiropractic care during pregnancy, most conversations focus on the spine, the pelvis, making room for baby. And yes, that matters.
But there's something deeper happening. Something that affects how you feel in your body, how you sleep, how you breathe, how you'll move through labor. Your nervous system is recalibrating in real time, and it needs support that meets it where it is.
What's Actually Happening in Your Nervous System During Pregnancy
From the moment of conception, your autonomic nervous system begins adapting to support two lives instead of one.
First trimester:
Your body is working overtime to establish this pregnancy. Progesterone floods your system, intentionally slowing things down to protect early development. This affects your heart rate, your blood pressure, your digestion. Many women describe feeling spacey, exhausted, or like they're moving through water. That's your nervous system purposefully downregulating.
Second trimester:
As your belly grows and your center of gravity shifts, your proprioception changes. Your body has to constantly recalculate where you are in space and how to maintain balance. This requires enormous nervous system coordination. When this system gets overwhelmed, you might notice increased clumsiness, difficulty with coordination, or a general feeling of being "off."
Third trimester:
Your body is preparing for birth. Relaxin softens ligaments. Your pelvis begins to shift. And your nervous system has to manage both the instability this creates and the increased demands of carrying more weight. Many women feel their nervous systems get stuck in a low-grade activation, unable to fully rest even when lying down.
Throughout all of this, your body is also adapting to:
• Increased blood volume (up to 50% more by the end of pregnancy)
• Hormonal fluctuations that affect mood regulation and stress response
• Physical changes that alter breathing patterns and ribcage expansion
• The gradual crowding of internal organs as baby grows
• Preparation for the massive autonomic shift that labor requires
This isn't just physical adaptation. It's a complete nervous system reorganization.
Why Traditional Prenatal Care Often Misses This
Most prenatal care focuses on monitoring baby's development and watching for complications. Blood pressure, fundal height, fetal heart rate. All important.
But there's rarely time or framework to address what's happening in your nervous system. The restlessness at night. The anxiety that seems to come from nowhere. The way your body holds tension even when you're trying to rest. The sensation of never quite feeling settled.
These aren't just "normal pregnancy symptoms" to endure. They're signs your nervous system needs support.
Traditional chiropractic during pregnancy often focuses on the Webster Technique, optimal fetal positioning, and pelvic alignment. These matter for birth preparation.
But nervous system-centered chiropractic care goes deeper. It addresses how your body is processing all these changes, how your autonomic nervous system is adapting, and whether it's getting stuck in patterns of tension or dysregulation.
What Gentle, Nervous System-Centered Chiropractic Looks Like
When you come to Life Force Chiropractic in Pleasant Hill, the first thing we do is listen. To you, and to your body.
We're not just looking at your pelvis or checking baby's position. We're assessing how your nervous system is responding to pregnancy. Where it's holding tension. Where it's struggling to adapt. Where it needs support to regulate more effectively.
The approach is gentle.
There's no forceful twisting or cracking. Using Bio-Geometric Integration, we work with your body's natural geometry and tension patterns. Often, the adjustments feel subtle. A gentle contact here, a light pressure there. You might not feel much in the moment, but your body recognizes what we're doing.
We're helping your nervous system remember it's safe. That it can release what it's been holding. That it doesn't have to brace against every change.
We work with your whole system.
Yes, we address your spine and pelvis. But we also work with your ribcage (so you can breathe more fully), your cranium (which affects your entire autonomic tone), and the soft tissues that are adapting to pregnancy. Everything is connected through your nervous system.
We honor where you are.
Some days your body is ready for more. Other days it needs gentler support. Pregnancy isn't a straight line, and neither is care. We meet you where you are in each session.
How This Shows Up Through Each Trimester
First Trimester Support:
When your body is working so hard to establish pregnancy, gentle nervous system care can help with:
• The overwhelming fatigue that makes everything feel harder
• Nausea that's often worse when your system is dysregulated
• The emotional intensity that comes with massive hormonal shifts
• Supporting your body's natural downregulation without forcing it
Second Trimester Support:
As your body changes shape and your center of gravity shifts:
• Helping your nervous system adapt to new proprioception
• Supporting the ribcage as it expands to accommodate baby
• Addressing the beginning of round ligament tension
• Maintaining pelvic balance as baby grows
• Supporting better sleep as belly size increases
Third Trimester Support:
When your body is preparing for birth and managing maximum demands:
• Helping your nervous system stay regulated despite physical discomfort
• Supporting optimal fetal positioning through pelvic balance
• Addressing sciatic nerve irritation and hip pain
• Helping your body prepare for the massive autonomic shift labor requires
• Creating more capacity for rest even when physical comfort is challenging
What Patients Notice
"I didn't realize how much tension I was holding until it released. It wasn't dramatic—just this gradual softening over a few sessions. Suddenly I was sleeping better. The anxiety I'd been carrying eased. My body felt more like mine again, even as it kept changing."
Many pregnant patients notice:
• Deeper, more restorative sleep
• Less reactive stress response to normal pregnancy demands
• Improved digestion and less heartburn
• Easier breathing as pregnancy progresses
• Less pain in hips, back, and pelvis
• Feeling more connected to their body and baby
• Smoother, shorter labors (though we can't promise this)
But perhaps most importantly, they notice feeling more settled. More present. More able to trust their body through this extraordinary process.
This Isn't Just About Comfort
Supporting your nervous system during pregnancy matters beyond just feeling better (though that matters too).
Research shows that maternal stress and nervous system dysregulation affect baby's developing nervous system. The patterns of regulation or dysregulation you experience don't just impact you. They shape the autonomic patterns your baby develops.
This isn't about creating pressure to be perfectly calm or stress-free. Pregnancy is intense, and stress happens.
But when your nervous system has support to process and regulate, when it's not stuck in chronic activation or shutdown, that creates a different environment for baby's development. One where their nervous system learns resilience rather than reactivity.
You're not just caring for your body. You're establishing nervous system patterns that will affect both of you.
Common Questions Pleasant Hill Moms Ask
Is chiropractic safe during pregnancy?
When practiced gently and with training in prenatal care, absolutely. We never use forceful adjustments during pregnancy. Everything is adapted to support your changing body and protect baby. Many midwives and OBs in the Pleasant Hill area refer patients to us specifically because they know our approach is safe and effective.
When should I start?
Ideally, as early as possible. Supporting your nervous system from the beginning helps your body adapt more easily to all the changes ahead. But it's never too late to start. We see patients throughout all trimesters and even postpartum.
How often will I need to come?
This varies based on what your nervous system needs. Some patients come weekly, others every other week, some monthly. We'll create a plan that makes sense for your body and your situation.
Will this help me during labor?
While we can't make promises about labor outcomes, many patients report that feeling more regulated and connected to their bodies throughout pregnancy helps them navigate labor with more ease. When your nervous system isn't stuck in chronic tension, it has more capacity to work with the intensity of birth.
What if I'm already seeing a chiropractor?
Different chiropractors have different approaches. If your current care is helping you feel regulated and comfortable, that's wonderful. If you're looking for a nervous system-centered approach or you're not feeling the support you need, we're here.
The Body You're In Right Now
Pregnancy asks everything of you. Your body is accomplishing something extraordinary, something it's designed to do, but that doesn't mean it's easy.
You don't have to just endure the discomfort, the sleeplessness, the way your body feels foreign to you. You don't have to power through until birth and hope it gets better after.
There's support available. Care that sees what your nervous system is managing and meets it with gentleness. Care that helps your body remember how to regulate even as everything changes.
Your body knows how to do this. Sometimes it just needs support to do it more easily.
We're in Pleasant Hill, serving families throughout the Bay Area—Orinda, Lafayette, Walnut Creek, Concord, and beyond. If you're pregnant and feeling like your body needs more support than you're currently getting, we'd be honored to help.
Ready to feel more settled in your changing body?
Book a consultation to discuss how gentle, nervous system-centered chiropractic care can support you through pregnancy. We'll assess what your body needs and create a care plan that honors where you are.
About Dr. Alandi Stec
Dr. Alandi Stec is a Doctor of Chiropractic specializing in gentle, nervous system-centered care using Bio-Geometric Integration. She works with pregnant women throughout Pleasant Hill and the greater Bay Area, supporting their bodies through the profound changes of pregnancy with compassionate, body-centered care.