When to See a Physiotherapist in Pregnancy

Featuring Tamarah Calyniuk, MPT, CAFC

Duration: 1 minute, 37 seconds

Ok, so there's some concerns that we have with pregnant women, one being which is the endocrine changes in their body.

So, we have a big hormone that starts to develop after six weeks of pregnancy, which is relaxin. And this tends to change a lot of the ligaments and muscles and the laxity that you have in your body, so that means increasing your mobility.

So our concern with that is musculoskeletal changes, which means they end up with some low back pain, pelvic pain, sometimes changes in joint mobility, such as your pubic symphysis and SI joints.

And so this can create a number of different issues. And a female may go and see her doctor, and potentially address these issues with them, and we hope the doctor would refer to a physiotherapist that's qualified to treat pre and postnatal women.

There are different issues that present prenatally and postnatally. Prenatally, we generally see low back pain, pelvic pain, SI joint pain, and pubic symphysis pain. And however, these, though, can transfer over into the postnatal period.

And, generally, women are quite sore for six weeks postnatally. If you are having issues past six weeks, then we advise you to visit with a doctor, and the doctor can provide information as to where you can go and visit with your local physiotherapist.

Presenter: Tamarah Nerreter, Physiotherapist, Surrey, BC

Local Practitioners: Physiotherapist