By Dr. Kerstin Zock, DC · Updated August 2026

As pregnancy progresses, your body doesn’t simply get heavier. Your center of gravity shifts, your ligaments respond differently, your posture adapts, and your pelvis carries steadily increasing load. Movements that felt effortless a few months earlier can suddenly become uncomfortable. After years of caring for pregnant women, I see this constantly — and I want you to know it’s worth paying attention to, not just accepting.

Many of the moms I see notice things like:

• Low-back discomfort
• Pelvic or SI-region discomfort
• Hip tension
• Trouble getting comfortable in bed
• Discomfort getting up from a chair
• Changes in how they walk
• Difficulty keeping up with exercise or normal daily activities

Prenatal chiropractic care isn’t about treating pregnancy as a problem to be fixed. It’s about helping your musculoskeletal system adapt to these changes as comfortably and functionally as possible.

What Is the Webster Technique?

The Webster Technique is a specific chiropractic analysis and adjustment commonly associated with pregnancy care. The International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA) currently defines its goal around reducing the effects of sacral and SI joint dysfunction and improving neurobiomechanical function in the sacral and pelvic region.

In plain terms: I’m evaluating how your pelvis and sacral region are moving and functioning, and determining whether an appropriate, gentle adjustment may help address a mechanical issue I find. It’s a focused way of caring for the part of your body under the most changing load during pregnancy.

Is the Webster Technique Used to Turn Breech Babies?

No. The Webster Technique is not a fetal-turning procedure. It became historically associated with breech presentation, which is where much of the confusion comes from — but the ICPA specifically advises chiropractors not to describe or advertise it as a “breech-turning” technique.

One of the questions I hear most from pregnant women is whether Webster care “turns the baby.” That’s not how I describe what I’m doing. My role as a chiropractor is to evaluate and address musculoskeletal and pelvic function. Your obstetric or midwifery team manages fetal presentation and the medical aspects of your pregnancy and delivery.

Why Pelvic Mechanics Matter During Pregnancy

There’s a real biomechanical reason pregnancy can be uncomfortable. As your baby grows, increasing abdominal weight shifts your center of gravity forward. Hormonal changes affect your connective tissues, and your lumbar spine and pelvis accommodate loads they’ve never carried quite this way before.

Because of that, walking, sleeping, bending, exercising, and prolonged sitting or standing can all start to feel different. The SI joints, the muscles around them, and your low back can become symptomatic. That’s the honest, mechanical foundation for why a pregnant woman might seek chiropractic care — no leaps to claims about labor or delivery required.

What Webster Certification Means

Both Dr. Kerstin Zock and Dr. Lauren Helf are Webster Certified. That certification requires specific postgraduate training through the ICPA, including completing the required seminar and passing practical and written examinations.

For you, it means your doctor has pursued additional training specifically relevant to this technique and to pregnancy-related care. What it does not mean is that we replace your OB/GYN, midwife, maternal-fetal medicine specialist, or pelvic-floor physical therapist. We work alongside them — as one part of the team supporting you.

Why I Chose to Become Webster Certified

Expecting moms have been an important part of my practice for years, and pregnancy places unusual demands on the body. Unlike most patients — who are generally recovering toward a stable baseline — a pregnant patient’s biomechanics are changing continuously, week to week.

A treatment approach that made sense at 18 weeks may need to be reconsidered later on. Supporting these patients well means understanding their changing bodies, not treating them like a non-pregnant adult with ordinary low-back pain. That’s exactly why the additional training mattered to me.

What Prenatal Chiropractic Care May Help With

I keep this focused on what chiropractic care actually addresses — musculoskeletal comfort and function. That includes pregnancy-related low-back discomfort, pelvic or SI-region pain, hip or gluteal discomfort, muscular tension, discomfort related to postural changes, difficulty moving comfortably, and staying active during pregnancy when it’s appropriate for you.

There is some observational evidence that pregnant patients receiving chiropractic care report improvements in measures like pain interference and quality of life. One practice-based study of 343 pregnant patients reported such improvements — but it wasn’t a randomized trial, so I share it as encouraging observation, not a promise of results. I won’t tell you chiropractic care guarantees a specific outcome, because that wouldn’t be honest.

What Does a Webster Visit Actually Look Like?

It starts with a conversation. Where are you in your pregnancy? What are you feeling? Which movements bother you? What activities are you trying to keep up with? And are there any relevant recommendations or restrictions from your obstetric provider? From there, I perform an examination and evaluation appropriate to pregnancy, and a Webster analysis when it fits.

The adjustment itself is adapted to your stage of pregnancy and your comfort, with positioning accommodations so you’re never asked to tolerate an uncomfortable position just because an adjustment is being done. Your comfort guides the visit.

Is a Chiropractic Adjustment Different When You’re Pregnant?

Yes — in the sense that the care is adapted to you. Body position, the amount of force, the technique, and the overall plan can all change according to your stage of pregnancy, your anatomy, your comfort, and what I find on examination.

Pregnancy is one of the clearest examples of why chiropractic care shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all. The woman I’m treating at 34 weeks doesn’t have the same biomechanics she had before pregnancy — or even the same biomechanics she had at 18 weeks. Good care has to move with her.

When Should Someone Start Prenatal Chiropractic Care?

There’s no universal schedule, and I’m wary of anyone who offers one. Women come in at different stages for different reasons. Some already receive chiropractic care and simply continue through pregnancy. Others come in when low-back, hip, or pelvic discomfort develops. And some seek out a Webster Certified chiropractor specifically because they want a provider with additional pregnancy-related training.

How often you’re seen should depend on your examination findings, your symptoms, your stage of pregnancy, and your own goals — not a predetermined “pregnancy package.”

What Happens If My Baby Is Breech?

Fetal presentation is a conversation for your obstetric or midwifery team. Webster care is not a replacement for obstetric assessment or the established medical management of breech presentation, and I won’t present it as one. If your baby is breech, your medical team should guide that discussion — and I’m glad to support you on the musculoskeletal side while they do.

Prenatal Care Is More Than One Technique

Webster is a technique within prenatal chiropractic care — not the whole of it. What I really care about is you: moving more comfortably, continuing appropriate exercise, managing the musculoskeletal strain pregnancy brings, sleeping better, staying functional at work, and adapting to the changing physical demands of these months.

You can learn more about our approach for expecting moms and chiropractic care during pregnancy on our prenatal care pages.

Two Webster Certified Chiropractors at Zock Family Chiropractic

Because both Dr. Kerstin Zock and Dr. Lauren Helf have completed Webster Certification, prenatal care is a genuine capability of our practice — not something that depends on a single doctor. Practically, that gives expecting moms more scheduling flexibility while keeping pregnancy-specific training consistent across both of our chiropractors.

My Perspective After Years of Caring for Pregnant Women

Pregnancy changes quickly. What I most want a mom-to-be to know is that discomfort shouldn’t simply be dismissed because she’s pregnant. Sometimes there are real musculoskeletal reasons she’s hurting that we can evaluate and address. My job isn’t to manage the pregnancy or promise what will happen at delivery — it’s to understand how her body is functioning, help where chiropractic care is appropriate, and work within the larger team supporting her. If that’s the kind of care you’re looking for, I’d be glad to see you. Request an appointment and we’ll start with a conversation.