Dr Chelsea Swan

Welcome to the home of

The Women’s Chiro

Chelsea is a Webster qualified Chiropractor (and Pilates Instructor) working in Geelong with a simple goal: to educate women to make intentional decisions for their health, lifestyle and family.

She passionately believes that women should be encouraged to make informed decisions regarding how to manage their hormones, understand their body and equip themselves with tools to manage stress, to plan and prepare for pregnancy + postpartum and learn to trust their body to thrive in their environment.

She’s basically your biggest cheerleader in life, in health, in motherhood and beyond.

NOW TAKING CLIENTS

From April 2024, you’ll find The Women’s Chiro offering in-person chiropractic consults from The Sana Co in Geelong.

Online consults available by request. Scroll down for more info.

How can I support you?

BOOKINGS NOW OPEN

I’m very excited to be opening up limited hours at The Sana Co in Geelong.

I’d love to support your healing journey, whether you are pre-kids, pregnant, postpartum or beyond.

You’ll find me in clinic on Tuesdays 2pm-5pm and Fridays 10am-1pm at 246 Ryrie St, Geelong.

Book here for Chiro in Geelong.

If you’re not local, don’t fret! We can still work together via virtual consult to get you closer to your dream baby, pregnancy, birth and more.

I have the following consults available:

The Hormonal Health Consult is right for you if you are looking for:

  • Support with preconception preparation

  • A review of your blood tests and guidance with supplements

  •  Help with tricky/painful/irregular periods

  • A deeper understanding of your confirmed or suspected endo, pcos or other hormonal condition

  • 1st, 2nd or 3rd trimester pregnancy support; supplements, exercise, birth and postpartum prep and more

The Preconception Life Audit is right for you if:

  • 2024 is the year you start trying for a baby

  • You want to prep your environment - your home - to support your hormones

  • You’d like support learning to chart your cycle

  • You need some direction with the most important things to work on in the lead up to trying for a baby

General consults are also available on request.  

Chiropractic home visits are now available in Geelong + surrounds. These visits are designed for pregnant or early postpartum mamas, when you need extra support but some days are just too tricky to get out of the house by a certain time. 

Get in touch to find out more, or book online

What is Chiropractic?

What if I told you that your body is self-healing; in the right environment and with the right support, your body is beautifully designed not just to survive, but to thrive through matrescence and beyond. 

Chiropractors are experts in the nervous system and musculoskeletal system; we look for signs of dysfunction in the body, the cause of that dysfunction, and then work with you to restore function + health to your joints, muscles and, well, your whole body. 

You might have heard that chiropractors only treat the back - this is a common assumption. But the truth is that we look at the whole body - top to toe - to work out how to help you feel your best. BUT we do focus on the spine, and for good reason.

Your spine houses the spinal cord and is the highway for communication between your body and your brain; it’s how your brain sends messages to your body and how your body sends messages back to the brain. This highway makes sure that we know how and when to run, jump, move, duck and dodge in response to movements, balance, uneven surfaces, sharp knives, hot stoves and all other sensory + tactile feedback from the external environment. It’s how we communicate, and respond to, musculoskeletal pain. Sometimes, the pain is external and we need to move away from it. Other times, the pain is internal and we need to change our actions or behaviours to address it.

It also plays a role in the modulation of the stress response, keeping us calm when it can and alert when we need to be. When the messages to the brain are altered (like when there is a fixation or loss of movement at a spinal level), the messages about how alert we need to be can be over exaggerated - you probably know this as your fight or flight response. As chiropractors, we remove the interference along the messaging pathways and restore function to your spine and your nervous system, allowing your body to return to it’s natural state of ease and balance. 

Chiropractors look for spinal restriction, as well as function movement disorders, postural changes and other reasons why there might be an increased load on certain areas of your body, or increased stress to your nervous system. 

This is why chiropractic care isn’t just about the hands-on treatment in the clinic, it’s also about lifestyle, exercise and so much more.

What is the Webster Technique?

The Webster Technique is a specific chiropractic analysis and gentle adjustment of the sacrum that reduces nervous system dysfunction so the brain-body connection can be restored. 

In pregnant women, restriction in the pelvis and tension in the uterine ligaments may be restricting baby’s ability to get into the best position for birth. The adjustment balances pelvic bones, muscles and ligaments, and optimises the mother’s pelvic function in pregnancy and birth. 

It is a beautiful tool to use during your pregnancy, but it can be used on any weightbearing individual, in any stage of life.

Chiropractic in pregnancy

Most people book a chiro appointment when they start feeling back pain during their pregnancy. For some this can be around the end of the first trimester, when they experience the first surge of the hormone relaxin. For others, it’s around the halfway mark or even later, once the physical changes are more pronounced and their bodies need some help adapting to a shifting centre of gravity.

BUT chiropractic care isn’t just about pain! It’s about optimal function of your nervous system, helping your body adapt to the physical changes that are happening before that bump starts poppin’, and keeping you moving well.

Did you know that by 5 weeks, your baby’s gender differentiation has already occurred? By 6 weeks, the foundations have been laid for what will become a four chambered heart, and by 10 weeks, you have grown an entire organ (the placenta) that will nourish + protect your baby until they are ready to join the world?

There is so much going on under the surface that requires intricate orchestration, and chiropractic care is just one way to nurture your nervous system (while your baby grows an entirely new nervous system!!) and ensure good communication between your brain and your body.

Why The Women’s Chiro?

So much of the established literature and research on health has been conducted on men, because the cycling hormones in women were considered an uncontrollable variable. Nevermind the fact that it’s that uncontrollable variable that is the very essence of being a woman and becoming a mother (and that ~50% of the population are women and ~50% of women in Australia have cycling hormones). 

The reality is that we cannot separate any aspect of your health from your physiology as a woman, and doing so would be a disservice to you. So, at The Women’s Chiro, we use your period as a regular report card on your health, not looking to cover up your symptoms but to get to the root cause and restore function. We look at everything through the lens of cycling hormones (if that applies to you) and how we can create alignment in all areas of your life, not just your spine ;) 

I’m here to celebrate your womanhood - the perfect, intricate design that allows you to create life, to nourish a child, to mother with ease and grace (and with rage and big feelings too) because you hold it all in your body and it you deserve a space to be held and heard and supported.

Who is Dr Chelsea Swan (Chiropractor)?

Mother. Wife. Chiropractor. Women’s Health advocate. Pilates Instructor. Woman.

Chelsea graduated with distinction from a Bachelor of Health Science/Bachelor of Applied Science (Chiropractic) at RMIT University, and later went on to complete her Masters of Women’s Health Medicine through University of New South Wales. 

She has a keen interest in women’s health spanning from early adulthood through preconception, pregnancy and postpartum, employing a range of gentle and effective chiropractic techniques to suit her patients’ needs.

Chelsea trained in Mat + Reformer Pilates to complement her Chiropractic career, and fell in love with the art of teaching people to move. She has gone on to complete further training in Safe Return to Exercise (a qualified MumSafe Trainer through Body Beyond Baby) and is passionate about building (and rebuilding after birth) the mind-body connection with a particular focus on pelvic floor health.

She has a 5-year-old practice baby (Winnie the bordoodle pup) and now an almost-toddler full of chaos and joy. Together with her husband, they enjoy a simple life of contact naps, walks to the cafe, the occasional (but very treasured) beach dip and getaways in the campervan.

What to expect from your first visit:

Never seen a chiropractor before? Here’s a quick rundown of what you can expect at your first visit to The Women’s Chiro at The Sana Co. 

Before your appointment, you’ll be asked to fill in a Health Questionnaire. Depending on the reason for your visit, this might have questions about your general health history, your hormonal health and periods, your pregnancy journey and more. There will also be some questions about your medical history, medications and supplements, and anything else you think is important for me to know. Are you seeing other practitioners? Do you have other health complaints that are contributing to your overall health picture? Things like that might not be asked directly on the form but are an important part of why you’ve sought chiropractic support and how we can work together to get you feeling better. 

Your consult will start with a chat as we get to know each other - we’ll talk about what you’ve written on the form, but also some other topics too. It’s about painting a picture of the things that have lead to where you are today, so we can take practical steps towards health. 

I’ll do an assessment of your posture, range of motion, reflexes, muscle strength and look for any areas of joint restriction or movement dysfunction. What we find will determine what your treatment looks like, but it will likely be a combination of adjustments, mobilisations, soft tissue massage and some home management strategies, including stretching and strengthening exercises. All of my techniques are gentle, effective and optional. I’ll never do something without your permission, or anything that you’re uncomfortable with. 

At each step, you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions and share any concerns you might have.  

The important thing is that we are working together towards the same goals, and making sure that you’ve got the right people on your team.

Good health happens by design

I believe that good health doesn’t happen by chance, or by luck, but by considered, consistent, intentional decisions made day in and day out. 

That means knowing your options and having as much information as you want and need to make an informed, well-educated decision.

It doesn’t mean that every decision is the ‘right’ one, but it means that you’re always striving to know more so you can be the best version of yourself.  

In the clinic and in the studio, that looks like  educating my clients about your bodies, why you feel the way you do, and how you can use that information to make decisions that most align with your health goals.

Making intentional decisions is the difference between 

  • Playing a passive or active role in your health 

  • Reacting or responding to a change in circumstance

  • Allowing others to tell you how to live or learning to make choices for yourself

  • Accepting only one form of management/treatment or exploring your options

  • Becoming complacent or empowered

There are many paths to a goal, and they won’t all be suited to you. Health happens when we make intentional decisions that all contribute to the bigger picture.

INTRODUCING:

The Preconception Playbook

Whether you’re just starting to think about having a baby, actively trying to conceive, or simply curious about how optimising your fertility could lead to better health outcomes (aside from the obvious) - the Preconception Playbook is your game plan to get you from where you are now to your most fertile self. 

This 6 week course is designed to take you from treading the waters of preconception fertility, to confidently navigating the pathway to your dream baby - all you need to know to prepare your health and your home before you start trying to conceive.