Chiropractic care in pregnancy is vital to the normal physiological function of both the mother and baby throughout pregnancy and birth. More women and birth providers are discovering the many benefits associated with chiropractic care in pregnancy and recognize this area of expertise through Webster Certification.
Find a Webster Certified chiropractor: Search our member directory and look for the Webster Certified designation or filter your results to Show Only Webster
The Webster technique is a specific chiropractic analysis and diversified adjustment. The goal of the adjustment is to reduce the effects of subluxation and/or SI joint dysfunction. In so doing neurobiomechanical function in the sacral/pelvic region is improved.
Sacral subluxation may contribute to difficult labor for the mother (i.e., dystocia), caused by inadequate uterine function, pelvic contraction, and baby mal-presentation. Correction of sacral subluxation may have a positive effect on all of these causes of dystocia.
Read The Webster Technique: Definition, Application and Implications
The Webster Technique has become a familiar term in the pregnancy and birth conversation. Families are seeking out chiropractors who are proficient in this technique as a way to support a more comfortable, safer, and easier birth. Earning your certification in the Webster Technique can help make a difference in the pregnancy and birth of your patients by optimizing normal physiological function.
Webster Certification signals trust. Your relationship to the ICPA demonstrates to the families you wish to serve that you have been properly trained in the technique by an organization they recognize.
Become acknowledged in the ICPA Find a Chiropractor directory. This directory is widely used to help refer patients to Webster Certified doctors. If you wish to see more families in practice, the directory will help you gain the exposure you need.
Join the ICPA tribe. Be a part of the organization that substantiates the care you love to provide. The ICPA and our members fund the research and public education to validate the safety and effectiveness of chiropractic care for pregnant women and children.
Receive updated information and on-going support. You'll receive alerts regarding updated research and clinical application to keep you informed of the vital issues relevant to advancing your skills and knowledge.
You can help your patients achieve the best possible birth outcome. There is no greater reward than knowing your service has made a difference in the lives of your patients and their newest family member.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In 2000, ICPA officially implemented the Webster Technique Certification. Connie Webster, Dr. Webster’s widow and ICPA Executive Director, and Dr. Jeanne Ohm developed the course and Certification to teach chiropractors the technique and the importance of its application throughout pregnancy. Dr. Ohm created the curriculum around the physiological concept that utilizing the Webster Technique throughout pregnancy may eliminate the causes of dystocia. Within a year or so after, ICPA members were encouraged to eliminate terms that implied breech turning.
In 2012, ICPA Research Director, Dr Joel Alcantara and Dr. Jeanne Ohm published the paper, The Webster Technique: Definition, Application and Implications. It clarified the intent, definition and specific analysis with sacral correction of the Webster technique as originally taught by Dr. Webster. It reiterated the importance of eliminating the terms "breech turning" and "in-utero constraint".
True to Dr. Webster’s original intent, the Webster Technique has always been taught in the ICPA Certification Program as a specific sacral analysis and diversified adjustment to be used throughout pregnancy to reduce the effects of sacral subluxation but also for all weight-bearing individuals regardless of age or gender.
