Back pain and pregnancy, tips on what you can do to make your pregnancy and back pain a little easier to manage.

Normal weight gain during pregnancy is about 35 pounds, but many women I have known during my twenty-year career as a midwife have gained anywhere from 35 to 70 pounds during pregnancy. The stress of sudden weight gain during the short cycle of pregnancy can cause back pain and suffering during pregnancy.

Posture changes during pregnancy:

Pregnancy and lower back pain occur due to weight gain during pregnancy and the automatic adjustments your body makes in posture to accommodate the growing uterus. This change in posture is called lordosis of pregnancy. Upper and lower back pain and pregnancy lordosis go hand in hand because your spine becomes super curved, elongated, and your breasts and buttocks bulge out pulling and stretching your back muscles.

Pregnant hormones:

On top of this, back pain and pregnancy go hand in hand due to the higher levels of pregnancy hormones it produces. Pregnancy hormones have a relaxing effect on many of the muscles in your body to accommodate the muscle stretching that is required during pregnancy. Relaxed muscles are not as supportive of the spine and abdominal muscles, therefore many women complain of back pain and shoulder stress during pregnancy.

Pelvic changes during pregnancy:

The female pelvis is made up of many different bones. By the time she reaches the end of her pregnancy, a baby cannot fit into the pelvis of a normal-sized woman without the pelvis opening and expanding. The pelvis has two main joints; one to the right and one to the left of the lower back along with a hinge joint at the tail end of the spine.

Back pain and the pulling and stretching of the ligaments of pregnancy are the direct result of the opening of the pelvis, which will allow your baby’s head to engage or enter the socket of the pelvis. Pregnancy and lower back pain is also caused by excess pressure felt deep in the pelvis as the baby sits up and waits for labor to begin.

All of these factors taken together, it is not unusual for pregnant women to have back pain. So if your back hurts right away, start doing things to prevent your back pain from getting worse or out of control.

How to help minimize symptoms associated with pregnancy and low back pain:

I definitely recommend having warm baths, putting warm compresses on your back, or better yet, back massages to help with pregnancy and lower back pain.

I highly recommend that all pregnant women see a chiropractor during their pregnancy. Many OB/GYNs and traditional midwives are a bit afraid to send women to a chiropractor because they are simply not informed about what chiropractors really do. A chiropractor can help your spine more easily adapt to all the changes in posture that occur during your pregnancy and relieve pain associated with pulled and stressed muscles associated with pregnancy and lower back pain.

Other than that, let’s take a look at what you can do with your own body to help minimize back pain and pregnancy. Wearing a supportive bra during pregnancy will support the increased weight of the breasts and lift them so they don’t feel as heavy. This will relieve much of the upper back stress associated with pregnancy and back pain.

There are also many pregnancy stomach binders that have been created to help support the weight of your growing womb, which can help alleviate back pain and ligament discomfort from pregnancy.

Many women focus on fashionable shoes and wear ridiculous shoes during pregnancy that do not support their posture and feet. I can’t believe how many pregnant women are wearing ridiculously high or low shoes. Remember, as you get more and more pregnant, all the bones and muscles in your feet are stressed.

Take a good look at the shoes you wear during your pregnancy and ask yourself these questions to assess the importance of your feet:

Do your shoes have good arch support?

Are your shoes comfortable and wide to accommodate the increased growth and widening of my foot associated with the extra blood volume and swelling that occurs during pregnancy?

Can your foot easily slip out of your shoe? If so, she could trip and fall and insult herself or her baby.

The more informed you are about the pregnancy, the better choices you will make. Better choices mean a happy, healthy mom and baby. Pregnancy can be an extraordinary experience for a woman. It is much more than growing a baby and understanding pregnancy and low back pain.

Pregnancy has a huge emotional, mental, spiritual and energetic side. The more you understand these aspects, the easier and less symptomatic your pregnancy will be. Learning to connect with your unborn child’s emotions will allow you to enhance your pregnancy experience and surrender to your normal physiological process of pregnancy and low back pain.