Who treats what? For the purposes of this article, we will stick to the top four services, other than chiropractic, that a pregnant (or im-mediately postpartum) person may be interested in access-ing. Many of us will have access to licensed practitioners in all of these designations in either our own city or in neighbouring ones, but if you don’t, that’s ok. Just do the best job you can with the tools you have. PELVIC FLOOR PHYSIOTHERAPIST • Urinary incontinence and dyspareunia at any time in the patient’s life -during pregnancy, 6 weeks after hav-ing a baby, 20 years after having the baby, etc. *Please remember that any amount of urinary inconti-nence, even a single drop, is not normal. Common, yes, normal, no. Any amount of reported incontinence should automatically trigger a referral to a Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist. • Hip pain • Pelvic girdle pain • Labour prep for a vaginal birth • Many, many other issues practitioners, you can be well educated on their scope of practice, and what would be a great referral for them. If you approach your potential interprofessional collab-orator with an attitude of “how can I help you,” you will almost always be very well received. Just as we don’t naturally graduate with a full contact list of people to refer our patients to, neither do other AHPs. We are all looking for the best people on our team to help our pa-tients feel their best. By putting the patient first, you will be able to sleep at night, and I can just about guarantee that the patient will refer back to you because of your integrity, and it’s likely that whoever you referred the patient to will, also. Some readers may be nervous to make these referrals, for fear of “losing the patient.” However, when it’s done right, you will keep the patient, if they need to continue seeing you, and you will likely improve your relationship with the patient, increasing their trust in you. Put the patient first. A strategy Dr. Erik and his team use on re-ferral, is to set a specific return date that is applicable to the case. Something along the lines of “Gayle, I’d like you to see Dr. X, have a few sessions with them, and then let’s see you back in three or four weeks and we’ll do a re-eval-uation and see where you are.” This strategy keeps you in the loop, and gives the patient confidence in the team-based approach. www.canadianchiropractor.ca We are all looking for the best people on our team to help our patients feel their best. MASSAGE THERAPIST • General aches and pains • Edema/lymphatic drainage • Stress/relaxation • May do infant massage once the baby is born • Potentially breast massage postpartum to help with engorgement ACUPUNCTURIST • Morning sickness • Edema • Stress/relaxation • Sleep issues • Cervical ripening, to encourage a more efficient birth • Natural induction • Milk supply issues postpartum LACTATION CONSULTANT • Latch issues • Blocked ducts, mastitis (mastitis should also be an imme-diate referral to the doctor as it will require antibiotics) • Assessments for tongue tie • Milk supply issues • Pain with breastfeeding April 2020 Canadian Chiropractor 23
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