Back Pain During Pregnancy

Featuring Dr. Maziar Badii, MD, FRCP

Duration: 1 minute, 56 seconds

Women who get pregnant or are expecting to get pregnant can expect to have back pain.

In fact, up to 50 percent of women experience back pain during their pregnancy. Sometimes this back pain can be mild. It can sometimes be so severe that it may interfere with their work, or with their day-to-day activities. It may even predispose back pain during future pregnancies.

What’s important to point out though is, and this is quite reassuring to a lot of mothers and expecting parents, is that the presence or absence of back pain is in no way related to birth outcomes.

There has been no association found between the presence of back pain and things like weight at birth, birth length, APGAR scores. Certain body mechanical factors have been found to influence the risk and the severity of developing back pain in pregnant women.

The body mechanical factors would include things like the transverse diameter, as well as the curve in the back, the angle of lordosis, so have a flat back versus have a curve, it makes a difference in how much the body can withstand that increased pain, that increased weight that we get as women get pregnant and the baby grows.

Simple analgesic medications like acetaminophen, Tylenol, are not out of the question. They can be used, as long as you’ve cleared them with your family physician or your pharmacist. If you’ve used all these simple strategies and still you’re experiencing back pain, even if it’s not severe, if there’s any concern, see your healthcare provider, see your family physician.

You might visit a rheumatologist for information on what is, conditions, side effects, symptoms and treatments related to back pain during pregnancy, pregnancy back supports and joint pain in pregnancy.

Presenter: Dr. Maziar Badii, Rheumatologist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Rheumatologist