|
| Back Pain During Pregnancy Question |
|
Question:
My wife has been complaining a lot lately about lower back pain during her pregancy. She
doesn't think she did anything specifically to hurt it. She is about
8 weeks pregnant, so it should not be a matter of extra tummy just
yet. Any ideas?
Answer:
I had lower back pain starting about the same time with this pregnancy
too. I think it is due to hormones going to work on preparing her body
for the rest of the pregnancy. A hormone called relaxin causes all the
joints to loosen up and sometimes that puts things out of whack. What
helped alleviate the pain for me was to stop carrying my toddler, and to
start doing pelvic rocks. Pelvic rocks are a great exercise to do
throughout pregnancy (with doctor/midwife's blessing of course) as they
help keep the baby in a good position, which helps keep mom as
comfortable as possible.
To do them, mom gets on hands and knees with
back flat. Then as mom exhales, she tilts her pelvis upward so that her
back arches up like an angry cat's, with an awareness of using both her
back and stomach muscles. Then on the inhale, return to starting
position. This should be at a gentle, moderate pace, not fast, but not
too slow. Repeat, as many times as is comfortable. I started with 40
every morning, and now usually do about 60, sometimes 80 (I'm 35 weeks
along - with the baby being bigger, it's taking longer to adjust his
position), and have added a set just before going to sleep too. The
lower back pain got a lot better for me after a few weeks.
keep in mind there may be a few things that cause the lower back pain. I can only suggest what worked for me, and that is
that you might want to try gently massaging the area, and applying a hot
water bottle to it when she is sitting or lying down.
 |
|
|
|
