Women's experiences of low back pain during pregnancy

Abstract

Abstract. OBJECTIVES:This study investigated the self-reported prevalence and impact of low back pain (LBP) during pregnancy in primiparous and multiparous women, and their treatment-seeking rationales and experiences, including their use of physiotherapy. METHODS: A sample of 105 post-partum women was recruited. All participants answered a questionnaire; women who experienced LBP during pregnancy (n = 71) continue in the study and later they were also interviewed. Content analysis, descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. RESULTS: Reports of LBP were common (n = 71; 67.6%) and slightly more frequent in primiparous (n = 40; 56.3%) than multiparous (n = 31; 43.7%) women. Multiparous women with LBP were significantly older (p < 0.001) and reported more sleep disturbances (p = 0.026) than primiparous women with LBP. LBP prevented women performing their daily activities (n = 41; 57.7%) and worsened with the advance of pregnancy (n = 55; 77.5%), yet 93.0% (n = 66) of these women received no treatment. CONCLUSION: LBP is a prevalent and important clinical condition affecting the daily life of many pregnant women. Nevertheless, few women seek any treatment and physiotherapy is rarely considered. Given the significant impact on quality of life, health professionals need to be proactive in asking women about LBP.

Factors related with low back pain and pelvic pain at the early stage of pregnancy in Japanese women

“…The fact that 80% of multiparous women with LBPP in the present study had a past history of LBPP in their previous pregnancy suggests that multiparous women generally have LBPP. However, the proportion of multiparous women with LBPP was not significantly different from the proportion of primiparous women with LBPP being in line with the results of previous studies (Mohseni-Bandpei et al, 2009;Mota et al, 2015). Mogren and Pohjanen (2005) reported that mean gestational age at the onset of LBPP was 22.1 weeks.…”

“…It has been reported that increase in parity was associated with increased risk for lumbar pain and that risk for lumbar pain in multiparous women was higher than that in primiparous women (Mota et al, 2015). A past history of lumbar and pelvic pain related or unrelated to previous pregnancy (Kovacs et al, 2012), low educational level (Chang et al, 2011), and high body mass index (BMI) and overweight (Mogren and Pohjanen, 2005) have been reported to be as factors related to LBPP.…”

Efficacy of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment for Management of Postpartum Pain

“…Several studies also have demonstrated that OMT is effective in improving low back pain during pregnancy. [9][10][11][12] Even though OMT is widely used for postpartum…”

Short-term effects of Kinesio taping in women with pregnancy-related low back pain: a randomized controlled clinical trial

“…Although pregnancy-related low back pain may be due to changes in ligament laxity and posture, there are several causes of low back pain during pregnancy, including lumbosacral disc herniation, musculoskeletal diseases, pregnancy-related osteoporosis, and sacral stress fractures [4,6]. In addition, studies have shown that pregnancy-related low back pain is associated with poor quality of life, sleep disturbances, and sick leave from work [1,3], but it is often accepted as a normal, painful process of pregnancy [3,7] because patients and clinicians have inadequate information about treatment options and fear of possible harmful effects of treatment on the developing fetus [1,3,5].…”