Diagnosing the Cause of Back Pain During Pregnancy

Featuring Dr. Maziar Badii, MD, FRCP
Diagnosing the Cause of Back Pain During Pregnancy
Duration: 1 minute, 55 seconds

One of the challenging parts of diagnosing the specific cause of back pain in a pregnant woman, is the fact that we can’t do many of the tests that we commonly do on patients who are not pregnant.

So tests like plane X-rays or a bone scan or a CT scan, we simply can’t do them on a pregnant woman because of the risks that radiation pose to the baby. So when it comes to diagnosing and potentially treating back pain during pregnancy, we try to optimize the simple things that a woman can do to maximize their own chances of having less pain.

Once they’ve done that, if there is still quite severe pain, then we approach each patient one person – person-by-person, case-by-case. And that’s when a patient will be referred to a specialist by their family physician to see if there is something specifically going on, something that will need more specialized tests, like an MRI, which is safe during pregnancy, but more challenging to obtain quickly.

If the patient has tried a lot of these simple strategies and has worked with their practitioner or their physiotherapist or exercise therapist has worked on good posture, good lifting technique, good attention to how they sleep and having a firm mattress, and a pillow between their legs, pillow under their back – if in spite of this, they are still having quite severe back pain, they will see their doctor, and the doctor may then either refer to a specialist, or go to more advanced imaging that is safe during pregnancy, like an MRI.

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

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

Local Practitioners: Rheumatologist