You are not alone! Over 50 percent of pregnant women experience low back pain during their pregnancy. This pain can be debilitating, preventing you from working, taking care of your home, and taking care of your other children. Pregnancy-related lower back pain can be due to postural changes, ligament laxity due to the release of the hormone relaxin, and weight gain resulting in decreased stability of the back and hips.

The good news is that you don't need to suffer with pain during pregnancy. It has been shown that physical therapy can help to decrease or even eliminate pregnancy-related low back pain and improve your function through manual therapy, spinal stabilization exercises, and education on sitting, standing, lifting, use of support pillows, and turning in bed. Exercises will emphasize the abdominals, pelvic floor, and buttock muscles to help stabilize the pelvis. For example, some exercises your physical therapist might show you include lying on your back with a wedge doing a bridge, getting on your hands and knees lifting opposite arm and leg, side-lying lifting your leg, and sitting on a physioball marching and standing doing small range squats.

As mentioned above, the hormone relaxin is increased during pregnancy to 10 times the normal levels. The purpose of relaxin is to help the pelvis adapt and prepare for childbirth by softening connective tissues and ligaments around the pelvis, pubic symphysis, and sacrum. These changes will allow the baby to pass through the birth canal. Due to the increased release of relaxin, your sacroiliac joint and lumbar joints can become unstable and move out of alignment, contributing to your pain. Research has shown that it is safe and effective for your physical therapist to perform gentle muscle energy techniques to correct the alignment and allow you to train your muscles in proper position.

Bottom line, you are not alone, and you do not need to suffer with low back pain during pregnancy. It has been shown that exercise, education, and manual therapy during pregnancy is a safe and effective way to treat low back pain, reduce sick leave from work, reduce need for bed rest, and prepare you for labor.

If you know anyone that is suffering from low back pain during pregnancy, please share our information with them. Give us a call at Pinnacle Physical Therapy today! Post Falls (208) 777-4242 or Coeur d'Alene (208) 665-2000.

- Pinnacle Physical Therapy