Featuring Dr. Maziar Badii, MD, FRCP

Video Title: Treatment & Prevention of Pregnancy Back Pain Duration: 3 minutes, 19 seconds

There are some very simple common sense type of things that everyone can do, that can both facilitate the positive physiological factors, and protect the back against pain, discomfort as the pregnancy progresses.

The first advice is to try to always be aware of good posture, so try to stand or sit tall. Hold the chest high, and try to have the shoulders back a little bit. This will protect and counteract the tendency to want to fall forward as the weight increases in the front.

The second thing you can do is to be aware of all the equipment that is potentially available to you. These could include comfortable footwear, athletic shoes with a supportive arch and low heel, to special pregnancy pants with a low waistband, to supportive belts that can offload some of the weight in the front and transfer them around.

The third thing that may be helpful to you is to watch how you sleep. Some women find that if they have a pillow between their knees, or even a full body pillow, that can help them sleep on their side, and have their knees supported; can help them experience less pain at night, and less pain the next day.

The fourth thing to be aware of is proper lifting technique, and that goes along with the good posture. The tendency is to want to bend forward because the weight is here, especially when we get fatigued at the end of the day. It’s easier to bend forward and lift, as opposed to doing the right thing, which is to bend from the knees, go down, grab and come up from the knees.

The fifth thing to keep in mind is to try to keep exercise a part of your day-to-day routine. Because there is the tendency to have altered posture during pregnancy, and because of the hormonal changes that were mentioned, it’s important to do things that will keep you in shape, things like, things as simple as walking or swimming every day, but also doing stretching exercising, doing core exercises, doing pelvic floor exercises. These can help support your posture, and they can help support your back in the face of the additional weight and all the physiological changes that happen during pregnancy.

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 and joint pain and musculoskeletal pain during pregnancy.

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

Local Practitioners: Rheumatologist