Treatment of Lower Back Pain during Pregnancy
Up to 50% of women will experience lower back pain during pregnancy. What do we know about which treatments are best for managing this problem?
Using pelvic supports and braces.
If you have lower back pain and you are pregnant and go to see a physiotherapist, there is a good chance you will be offered a support or brace of some sort.
These are the two most common types.
This type of brace supports the lower back
This type of brace supports the sacroiliac joints
Do they work though?
A recent study (Kalus, Kornman & Quinlivan 2008) looked at a largish (115) group of pregnant women between 20 and 36 weeks of pregnancy with lower back or sacroiliac pain. They compared two different types of pelvic support.
- One half of the group was given tubigrip, which is standard issue in the UK,
- the other half were given something called a bellybra which is a particular type of lower back support designed for pregnant women.
The authors found that both types of support were helpful at reducing lower back pain during pregnancy and that the women using them felt less pain.
The group in the bellybra group did a little better than the tubigrip group. They had less back pain when sleeping, getting up from a sitting position and walking than the tubigrip group.
Kalus, S.M., Kornman, L.H. & Quinlivan, J.A., 2008. Managing back pain in pregnancy using a support garment: a randomised trial. BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology, 115(1), p.68-75.
Lower Back Pain Toolkit Home Page
Causes of Back Pain in Pregnancy
Lower Back Pain During Pregnancy - Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction
18-Feb-2008
