Identification and management of pregnancy-related low back pain

Abstract

Back pain is a common complaint of women during pregnancy. It is frequently dismissed as trivial and inevitable. This article gives an overview of recent research on pregnancy-related back pain that documents the impact of this pain on women's lives, during and beyond the childbearing year. It argues for a more active approach to the prevention and management of back pain during pregnancy. Two common back pain types, lumbar pain and posterior pelvic pain, are described and basic management techniques for the woman and her primary caregiver are suggested. Red flag findings that necessitate specialist referral are also highlighted, as are suggestions for further research.

Prevalence and pattern of back pain among pregnant women attending ante-natal clinics in selected health care facilities

“…This finding is supported by previous studies (MacEvilly and Buggy, 1996;and Perkins et al, 1998) which highlighted that BP is a common complaint of women during pregnancy. It has also been noted that at least 50% of pregnant women will experienced BP to some extent during pregnancy (Fast et al, 1987;Ostgaard et al, 1994;Sydsjo et al, 1998;Sanya and Olajitan 2001).…”

Lower Back Problems and Work-Related Risks in a South African Manganese Factory

“…A study by Perkins and co-workers [46] among pregnant women support these findings. A possible explanation for this observation could be related to the layout of the cell houses.…”

Pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PPP), I: Terminology, clinical presentation, and prevalence

“…However, to better understand prevalence, pathology, diagnosis, treatment, and the relationships between them, one would need comprehensive reviews that cover all relevant aspects. Several attempts have been made to present a comprehensive review [39,41,46,55,79,91,94]. These reviews, however, did not use systematic strategies to search the literature.…”