Pregnancy and Lower Back Pain: What To Do!

The decisions of picking a name� The anticipation and excitement�Painting the new room� Clothing, diapers and family celebrations. Thejoy of a pregnancy is one of life�s greatest pleasures. Unfortunatelyhowever, for many women the later months of pregnancy can prove to bequite challenging. One common problem many women face is lower backpain.

Lower back pain can be a horrible interruption inday-to-day activities for a pregnant woman. More importantly, itinterferes with their quality of life, not to mention the enjoyment ofone of the most memorable times of their life.

The obviouscause of lower back pain is the biomechanical stress being placed onthe mother by the added weight of baby. As the baby gains weight themother is pulled forward. In order to compensate for this forward pull,the mother has to lean her upper body backward. This puts a tremendousamount of pressure on the low back and pelvis.

This explanationof low back pain sounds complete. It is a true explanation but is onlya small part the problem. The �hidden� cause of lower back pain isactually muscle imbalances. In fact muscle imbalances are a commoncause of lower back pain in pregnancy but it is also responsible forback pain in a majority of the population.

The strength and toneof the muscular system is an extremely important factor when assessinga patient with lower back pain. Unfortunately, muscle imbalances arenot addressed properly by most health practitioners� but just becausethey are not trained in identifying and addressing muscle imbalances,it doesn�t mean you have to continue to suffer�

But before Ishare with you the solution to this problem, let me first explain inmore detail what a muscle imbalance is and how it causes back pain andsciatica�

In a nutshell, muscle imbalances work like this.Muscles work together with opposing muscles to allow movement atjoints. One muscle stretches while the other shortens. Each side shouldbe of equal tone and strength. When a pregnant woman walks, moves,bends, twists or sleeps she will typically do so in an unbalanced andawkward manner to accommodate for her increased weight. In addition,various everyday activities and positions we put our body in createimbalances in the muscle groups and during pregnancy it only worsens�

Muscleimbalances then pull the pelvis and low back out of alignment and thisplaces uneven and excessive stress on the muscles, bones and joints.

Thespine is comprised of 24 moveable bones with a shock-absorbing disc inbetween each bone. This spinal column rests on three large bones calledthe pelvic girdle. When this spinal column is in proper alignment itwill carry a majority of the weight and stress being placed on thebody. When one or more of these 24 bones misaligns, especially thepelvis, the muscles work overtime so to speak. They now have to carrythe weight that the spinal column is supposed to handle. At this pointthe muscles are unbalanced and are very prone to an injury. Lower backpain is the most common expression of this problem.

If the abovescenario takes place then the stage has been set for lower back painand dysfunction. Not only does the soon to be Mom have to deal withsafely carrying the baby, she has to now do it with a painful lowerback. Let�s face it, the soon to be Mom is going to be in pain and sheis not going to enjoy her most cherished time in life.

The Solution

Thesolution is based on a better understanding of muscle imbalances andhow your body works� The first thing you have to do is fully understandwhat muscle imbalances are, how they are created and how they causeback pain and sciatica�

Once you understand muscle imbalancesthe next step is to identify the ones you have and understand how theyare creating your pain� after you have identified the imbalances iswhen you can then begin addressing them with the right combination ofcorrective exercises, stretches and treatments�