The Effects of Pregnancy on Lower Back Health

Mary Franz - Dec 08th, 2010

Back pain is common during pregnancy, especially during the last trimester. It also occurs frequently following labor. In fact, back pain is so common during pregnancy that injury to a mother's spine or misalignments may be overlooked. If pain or other symptoms are anticipated and directly attributed to pregnancy, the woman may not feel she needs evaluation. Will the back pain simply subside?

Yes and no. Though back pain brought on by pregnancy often passes after a short period of time, if misalignment occurred during pregnancy or labor, a new mom may experience lingering problems. Once the spine becomes misaligned, the overall health of the spine is compromised. Inflammation is the body's natural response to injury as it attempts to protect the area from further damage. Unfortunately, it can also lead to pressure, compression of nerves, and further degeneration of the spinal components.

In a recent study, researchers found that disorders occurred during pregnancy involving pelvic misalignment as well as dysfunction of the sacroiliac joint (which joins the pelvis to the sacrum, or lowest portion of the spine). The researchers were investigating the causes of lower back pain and strain symptoms during pregnancy. Their findings support the that further evaluation for lower back pain during and after pregnancy is needed.

Chiropractic care during pregnancy can help ease pregnancy symptoms and labor as well as provide evaluation for aftercare treatment should a misalignment occur.

The Occurrence of Strain Symptoms in the Lumbosacral Region and Pelvis During Pregnancy and After Childbirth; Tomasz Sipko, Dominika Grygier, Katarzyna Barczyk, Gabriela Eliasz; Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics - June 2010. Vol. 33, Issue 5, Pages 370-377.