Nature Creation ArticlesHealth, Pain, Therapy, Remedies

Back pain or dis­com­fort is com­mon dur­ing preg­nancy and should be expected to some degree by most women. Back pain may be expe­ri­enced dur­ing any point of your preg­nancy; how­ever, it most com­monly occurs later in the preg­nancy as the weight of the baby increases. Back pain can dis­rupt your daily rou­tine or inter­fere with a good night of sleep. The good news is there are steps you can take to man­age the back pain that you expe­ri­ence.
How com­mon is back pain dur­ing pregnancy?

You are not alone if you are expe­ri­enc­ing back pain dur­ing your preg­nancy. The preva­lence varies with reports, show­ing between 50 to 70 per­cent of all preg­nant women hav­ing back pain.
What causes back pain dur­ing pregnancy?

Back pain dur­ing preg­nancy is related to a num­ber of fac­tors. Some women begin to expe­ri­ence lower back pain with the onset of preg­nancy. Women who are most at risk for back pain are those who are over­weight or had back pain prior to preg­nancy. Here is a list of poten­tial causes of back pain or dis­com­fort dur­ing pregnancy:

* Increase of hor­mones – hor­mones released dur­ing preg­nancy allow lig­a­ments in the pelvic area to soften and the joints to become looser in prepa­ra­tion for the birthing process of your baby; this shift in joints and loos­en­ing of lig­a­ments may affect the sup­port your back nor­mally expe­ri­ences
* Cen­ter of grav­ity – your cen­ter of grav­ity will grad­u­ally move for­ward as your uterus and baby grow, which causes your pos­ture to change
* Addi­tional weight – your devel­op­ing preg­nancy and baby cre­ate addi­tional weight that your back must sup­port
* Pos­ture or posi­tion – poor pos­ture, exces­sive stand­ing, and bend­ing over can trig­ger or esca­late the pain you expe­ri­ence in your back
* Stress – stress usu­ally finds the weak spot in the body, and because of the changes in your pelvic area, you may expe­ri­ence an increase in back pain dur­ing stress­ful peri­ods of your pregnancy

How can you pre­vent or min­i­mize back pain dur­ing pregnancy?

Back pain may not be pre­vented com­pletely, but there are things that you can do to reduce the sever­ity or fre­quency. Here are a few steps you can take to help reduce the back pain you are experiencing:

* Use exer­cises approved by your health care provider that sup­port and help strengthen the back and abdomen

* Squat to pick up some­thing ver­sus bend­ing over
* Avoid high heels and other shoes that do not pro­vide ade­quate sup­port
* Avoid sleep­ing on your back
* Wear a sup­port belt under your lower abdomen
* Make sure your back is aligned using a chi­ro­prac­tor
* Get plenty of rest. Ele­vat­ing your feet is also good for your back

How can you treat back pain dur­ing pregnancy?

There are a num­ber of things you can do to treat back pain dur­ing preg­nancy. Some of the steps you take to avoid back pain may also be used to treat cur­rent back pain. Here are some other com­mon interventions:

* Ice or heat
* Braces or sup­port devices
* Sleep on your left side and use a sup­port pil­low under your knees
* Med­ica­tions used to treat inflam­ma­tion
* Use a licensed health care pro­fes­sional such as a chi­ro­prac­tor or mas­sage therapist

When to con­tact your health care provider?

Expe­ri­enc­ing back pain itself is usu­ally not a rea­son to con­tact your health care provider, but there are sit­u­a­tions where con­tact­ing your provider is nec­es­sary. You want to con­tact your health care provider if you are expe­ri­enc­ing any of the following:

* Severe back pain
* Increas­ingly severe or abrupt-onset of back pain
* Rhyth­mic cramp­ing pains; this could be a sign of preterm labor

Severe back pain may be related to pregnancy-associated osteo­poro­sis, ver­te­bral osteoarthri­tis, or sep­tic arthri­tis. These are not com­mon, but it is some­thing your health care provider will exam­ine if you are expe­ri­enc­ing severe back pain.
Your Next Steps:

* Begin an approved exer­cise pro­gram to sup­port your back and abdomen
* Set aside a cou­ple of times a day where you can take a nap or get off your feet
* Find a Chi­ro­prac­tor in your area
* Pur­chase a sup­port belt
* Pur­chase a sleep aid pillow

Com­piled using infor­ma­tion from the fol­low­ing sources:

Dan­forth Obstet­rics and Gyne­col­ogy Ninth Ed. Scott, James. Gibbs, et al, Ch. 1

Williams’s Obstet­rics Twenty-Second Ed. Cun­ning­ham, F. Gary, et al, Ch. 8

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