Does regular exercise during pregnancy influence lumbopelvic pain? A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Objective. To study lumbopelvic pain in women randomized to a regular exercise program during pregnancy in comparison to women receiving standard antenatal care. Design. A two‐armed, two‐center, randomized controlled trial. Setting. St Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital and Stavanger University Hospital. Population. A total of 855 pregnant women were randomized to intervention or control groups. Methods. The intervention was a 12 week exercise program, including aerobic and strengthening exercises, conducted between 20 and 36 weeks of pregnancy. One weekly group session was led by physiotherapists, and home exercises were encouraged twice a week. The control group received standard antenatal care. Main outcome measures. Self‐reports of lumbopelvic pain and sick leave due to lumbopelvic pain. The data were analysed according to the “intention‐to‐treat” principle. Results. There were no significant differences between groups of women reporting lumbopelvic pain at 36 weeks (74 vs. 75%, p=0.76). The proportion of women on sick leave due to lumbopelvic pain was lower in the intervention group (22% vs 31%, p=0.01). Conclusions. Exercise during pregnancy does not influence the prevalence of lumbopelvic pain, but women offered a regular exercise course seem to handle the disorder better.

Prevalence and risk factors of diastasis recti abdominis from late pregnancy to 6 months postpartum, and relationship with lumbo-pelvic pain

“…However we did not perform a detailed pain-history (Fast et al 1990;Stafne et al 2012;Robinson et al 2014) and we did not make any clinical assessment to evaluate the condition, which may underestimate the results. On the other hand, the sample was drawn from a population attending pre-natal courses in private centers, and therefore was not definitive in its ability to delineate prevalence of lumbo-pelvic pain in other populations.…”

Therapeutic exercise for pregnancy low back and pelvic pain: a systematic review

“…After assessing the complete articles, 16 were excluded because they did not report interventions that were supervised or guided by physical therapists (9-11, 24-28); because they associated the exercises to manual therapy (29,30); because they were unpublished (theses and dissertations) (31)(32)(33); for lack of data (34); or because they did not relate the outcomes or interventions of interest (8,35). Thus, eight studies (36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43), published between the years of 2005 and 2014, were included in this systematic review (Tables 2, 3 Eight RCT (36 -43) were included; one about low back pain (36), two about pelvic pain (37,38) and five about low back and/or pelvic pain (39 -43) . The size of the sample of the studies included in the review varied from 34 to 855 participants, with a total of 1781 pregnant women.…”

“…As to the methodological quality of the studies, assessed with the PEDro Scale, seven studies (36)(37)(38)(39)(41)(42)(43) were considered to have high quality, with scores varying from six to eight points. Only one study (40) had low methodological quality.…”

Association between kinesiologic dysfunctions, lumbar disability and lumbopelvic pain in pregnancy

“…Inactivity may be a predisposing factor to painful experiences (30) and a cross-sectional study (3) showed that there is an association of gestational low back pain with the longer time spent in the lying position, independent of the mattress characteristic. However, for pregnant women with low back pain, rest may be a strategy to relieve symptoms, since our study revealed that the majority (76.7%) found pain relief at bedtime, sit or relax, not related to lumbar incapacity.…”

“…However, a study (30) was carried out with 855 pregnant women aimed to evaluate a 12-week exercise program during the second half of pregnancy on the prevalence of lumbopelvic pain and the number of medical licenses in the period; revealed that the program did not appear to influence the prevalence, but significantly reduced the proportion of women applying for sick leaves for this condition. Those results suggested that they can cope better with the disorder compared to women who received standard prenatal care.…”